At S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, innovation is at the heart of everything

It has been a season of travel for Varun Nagaraj, and he managed to squeeze in time for this interaction. For someone who has spent time studying and working overseas, the last four years as Dean of S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR) have been hugely exciting, and he readily admits to that.

For most academics, a pressing concern right now would easily be the widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI). There are several nuances to this as the world attempts to grasp what it means. A few weeks ago, Nagaraj was in Toronto for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Deans Conference. There were 700 peers from across the world.

“A good part of my discussions with them was around AI,” he says with a smile. SPJIMR has been ranked fourth in the BT-MDRA Best B-Schools Survey.  

A NEW AGE

From a business school perspective, there are many opinions on how AI has changed the landscape. Nagaraj chooses the advent of the internet and social media to drive home the point.

“They were not disruptive to education and certainly not so quickly. However, AI is a very different proposition,” he says. Moving to Gen AI, Nagaraj, himself an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, thinks it has to be the fastest-adopted technology in recent history, where time has been compressed.

All this puts the onus on an institute to make its curriculum even more relevant in the new era. According to Nagaraj, the impact of AI can be understood in two ways. The first is how it makes a difference in practice, encompassing areas like marketing and supply chain management.

The other piece, and perhaps the more important one, revolves around how AI is used in the classroom. “This must be understood by both students and professors. AI cannot be taught, and the focus is on how it changes things,” he says. At the same time, Nagaraj is clear that AI is compromising the process of learning, though the thinking has changed. “A year ago, the discussion was on how to restrict the use of AI. Now, there is a realisation that it cannot be controlled and, therefore, the question is how do we change the way we teach?”

Here is where learning as a social activity comes in. Nagaraj cites the case study approach, now well-established in most business schools, in the absence of AI. He believes that leads to first principles thinking.

“You then bring in AI. The objective is to have high-quality blended learning,” he says.

THINK DIFFERENT

At SPJIMR, the focus over the last year has been on innovation. It is an area that excites Nagaraj, who insists on linking that to societal impact. The institute defines “wise innovation” as one that is purposeful and done for the right reasons. It goes beyond novelty and requires a nuanced understanding of innovation’s broader impact and implications.

For that to materialise, the most fundamental change is in the curriculum. For him, introducing new courses like systems design and systems thinking has been key.

Apart from this, research is another facet. In that direction, SPJIMR hosted a conference in 2025 to bring academics, doctoral scholars, research fellows, practitioners and policymakers together. The objective is to explore how organisations can leverage technology to shape a responsible landscape and sustainable future. To Nagaraj, what can be done for societal impact is most critical. “At any point through this process, that link between innovation and societal impact must be strong.”

Being housed in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, is a significant strategic advantage for the institute. The access to large companies across sectors has stood it in good stead for many years now. There is a constant endeavour to invest in infrastructure, the classrooms are set in a modern environment, which includes video conferencing platforms used for online classes, hybrid meetings and webinars. The job at the end of the two-year programme is only part of what SPJIMR stands for.

Impact is a phrase that Nagaraj repeatedly uses throughout our conversation. If that percolates to each student, it will make him and the entire SPJIMR staff a happy bunch.

@krishnagopalan