“B-schools Balancing Innovation With Tradition Will Succeed In The New Business Order”

What is the latest that you are picking up on B-school campuses across the country?

B-school campuses around the globe are rewiring themselves to address evolving challenges in the new business order. Adapting to new technology, addressing societal expectations, harnessing Diversity, Inclusivity, and Equity, and advancing sustainability practices while maintaining relevance in a highly competitive educational landscape dominate the schools’ boardroom agenda today. Never before have we seen B-schools balancing so many balls in the air in the changed narrative, like curating relevant curriculums, selecting a contextual pedagogy, identifying the right faculty, and addressing the concerns of Gen Z and recruiters alike. B-schools are realising that achieving a mere scale by way of introducing new courses and increased enrolment, at times thriving on existing brand strength, will now hamstring their next phase of growth. They are now pushing the agenda to establish a clear positioning and ensure superior learner outcomes.

How should business education be reimagined to align with these changes?

At BIM, we position ourselves as a school focusing on new technology applications and advancing sustainability practices. Mere positioning is not enough. Institute leadership must walk the talk, backed by measurable and evidence-based outcomes.

The B-schools that succeed in the new business order will be those that can balance innovation with tradition, create an immersive and agency-oriented curriculum as opposed to a cookie-cutter one, and adapt to the shifting expectations of both students and employers. B-schools must reimagine the programme architecture to include experiential learning, like introducing technology-led centres of excellence. Today’s learners, Gen Z, are called the Sad Generation. There is a serious need for programmes on emotional well-being, mental fitness, and activities to build resilience.  

How do you see the impact of GenAI on management education?

Generative AI is transforming teaching, learning, and research. In 2023-24, job postings for GenAI skills surged twenty-fold, with 71 per cent of leaders favouring candidates proficient in AI over more experienced peers without such skills. To stay competitive, campuses must adopt GenAI and reskill faculty, students, and alumni.

GenAI enables students to enhance critical thinking through advanced simulations and provides faculty in underserved areas access to personalised, world-class resources. By breaking language barriers, it democratises education, ensuring equitable access globally. Institutions integrating GenAI can foster inclusivity, innovation, and competitiveness, shaping a future-ready educational ecosystem for all stakeholders

How is the institution fostering an entrepreneurial mindset among students?

SRISHTI, BIM Trichy's Centre for Design Thinking, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship; a core subject mandatory for all--Entrepreneurship and Startup Ecosystem (ESE); access to IIT Madras Research Park and Indian Startup Ecosystem Platform (YNOS, an IIT Madras incubated initiative), student engagement in consultancy and sponsored research projects alongside the faculty are some of the initiatives to foster an entrepreneurial and startup mindset among the students. With India becoming a startup nation, we are in the process of launching an alumni-driven incubation programme at BIM to unleash the power of our 4,500+ global alumni base.

What emphasis are you and your institution placing on teaching sustainable business practices and ethics in your programmes?

We have core courses like Universal Human Values, Business Ethics, Environment, Society and Governance (ESG) to give an orientation to our students on sustainable human behaviour. As part of the courses, we invite corporate leaders to interact with our students, sharing their experiences on how they gained through ethical business practices. We bring these initiatives through our Centre for Indian Thoughts and Leadership. This is backed by a well-planned individualised mentoring programme.

You are an avid champion of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and have established a Centre for Sustainable Development at BIM Trichy to apply new technology and management insights into the SDG/ ESG space. What has been the experience with it?

At BIM, we live by our motto: leave the world a better place than we found it. This commitment is reflected in our ISO 14001:2015 Environment Management System certification, recognising our efforts to minimise environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions. As one of the few institutions in India to achieve this, we are striving for a green campus status. Our second campus is being built using sustainable materials and practices, with tree replantation initiatives ensuring no tree is cut during construction.

In partnership with the Tamil Nadu government, we conduct the prestigious TN CM’s Fellowship Programme and collaborate with the State Planning Commission on the Focus Block Development Programme, reaffirming our dedication to sustainable development and public policy. Through our Centre for Sustainable Development, we integrate sustainability into research, outreach, and curricula, offering courses like Green Finance, Sustainable Marketing, and Bloomberg ESG certification to empower future leaders for a sustainable world.

Please share some experiences of global exchange programmes and how the students have benefited from them.

As India takes a prominent role in the global value chain with businesses expanding across borders, there is a growing emphasis on developing cross-cultural communication and leadership skills. Towards this, BIM has partnered with two top-ranked institutes, Rennes School of Business, France, and the University of Texas, Arlington. Initiatives include faculty/ student exchange programmes offering dual degree programmes. We are also in the process of offering Ph.D programmes jointly with our international partner institute. Many international faculty are on our Academic Council, helping us adopt the best practices in curriculum design and delivery, especially in bleeding age courses. We are in the process of the AACSB accreditation to enhance global alignment.