With a new campus in Dubai and a course on AI, IIMA is preparing the leaders of the future

The indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), has topped the BT-MDRA India’s Best B-Schools rankings. But it is an unenviable position: even though it became a proud winner, it did so with a slender margin relative to the next on the list, had to face many challenges through the year like economic uncertainty due to global conflicts and growth of artificial intelligence (AI), and is staring at a landscape where management education and the nature of companies will be sharply rewritten.

Bharat Bhasker, Director of IIMA, says, “We are in a good shape and trying to keep up with the changing technology, but the pace [of adaptation] has to be enhanced. We have to work doubly hard to catch up and remain relevant to the business environment which is unfolding in front of us.”

New initiatives

To be sure, IIMA took a host of new initiatives: a one-year MBA programme from Dubai, a blended MBA in business analytics and an AI programme, a restructured syllabus introducing new courses with specific focus on technology and finance, and innovative industry partnerships like the one with Novo Nordisk to strengthen research on a critical subject like managing the obesity ecosystem.

Professor Bhasker says the Dubai campus has a larger objective of amplifying India’s soft power. IIMA believes that Dubai is a global future city with particular focus on AI, finance and tourism. Further, it is easier for the school to reach out to other geographical regions like Africa, Northern Europe and countries that are part of the Commonwealth of Independent States, like Belarus and Azerbaijan.

Despite the current uncertainties in the global economic environment, IIMA achieved 100% placements, with an average salary of Rs 34.45 lakh per annum and the highest compensation at Rs 1.46 crore. Around 168 firms participated in the placement process. The sectors from where the companies recruited were the traditional ones of consulting, investment banking and fintech, while conglomerates like Adani Enterprises and the Essar Group hired students from the general management MBA category.

Interestingly, five students opted for the IIMAvericks fellowship, under which the school will mentor and support them financially for two years to set up entrepreneurial ventures.

The innovative “Dream Application” policy, which empowers students to pursue their preferred sectors and roles, continued to be a highlight of the process, with 132 such applications recorded during the placement season.

One of the most important ways through which IIMA is looking to create leaders who can thrive in an uncertain environment is to enhance the quality of its engagements with industry. Traditionally, this was done through summer internship and the placement process.

For example, its intensive faculty development programmes seek to update them with knowledge of the new technologies. Further, the institution is focusing more on executive education programmes and consulting by the faculty to understand better the challenges that companies are facing and transfer that knowledge to the students.

Changes afoot

The impact of the changing environment in India and abroad is evident on IIMA. A pioneer of the two-year MBA, it has started its Dubai campus with a one-year MBA. The rationale was that there is an urgent need for good managerial talent there and, therefore, the sooner students get a degree the faster they will be able to get jobs. IIMA is also taking a relook at its well-regarded case studies, which typically used to run into about 30-40 pages. Now, with immersive technologies, students will be able to absorb cases in depth in a shorter print version of, say, 10 pages.

The Common Admission Test, which all the IIMs and many other private business schools use to select the students, could be less preferred in the future because of the intense competition that it generates. Many B-schools and students now prefer GRE or GMAT. Competition in the market will also grow because foreign higher education institutions are slowly coming to India. Others have their presence in India online and physically especially in the shorter executive education programmes, the growth of private sector-backed business schools and the setting up of multiple campuses.

So, even as IIMA is the highest ranked B-school in this year’s BT-MDRA survey, it has its work cut out for the coming years.