Preparing India's Universities for the AI Wave

The future belongs to institutions that understand the power of AI democratisation.

- SUNIL KANT MUNJAL, Chairman, Hero Enterprise, & Chancellor, BML Munjal University

FROM POWERING PAYMENT systems to educational platforms and healthcare diagnostics, AI is fast becoming the backbone of India's digital economy. As the transformation continues, it has piqued the general curiosity on what's coming next. The next stage of growth, particularly in India, will not only be driven by tech firms or research institutions, but will also be influenced by Indians who use AI tools to address challenges in their lives, communities, and businesses.

This poses both an unprecedented opportunity and a fundamental challenge for higher education. How do we prepare universities for a world where innovation increasingly happens outside institutional walls?

Breaking the STEM paradigm

Despite the progress, several countries, including India, are still deploying an engineering mindset to something that AI is fundamentally changing. For instance, our National Education Policy, 2020, emphasises coding and technical AI skills, which were relevant five years ago. But we are missing a crucial event horizon: AI is systematically breaking down barriers between technical expertise and practical problem-solving. The era is fast approaching where a teenager, armed with high school mathematics and proficient language skills, will likely be able to direct AI systems more effectively than a computer science PhD still focussed on constructing models from the ground up. AI orchestration—the ability to identify problems, select appropriate tools, and guide AI systems towards solutions—requires human intelligence, not technical specialisation. Pattern recognition, problem decomposition, and practical wisdom matter more than coding ability.