TOP OF THE CHARTS

With a campus in Dubai and initiatives such as an AI programme, IIMA is looking to equip its students with the tools to navigate an uncertain world

- BY GEORGE SKARIA

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.