“AI Is A Reality”

Raman Ramachandran, Director, KJ Somaiya Institute of Management, on AI’s impact on management education
 
How will AI impact management education and what is your institute's approach to disruptive technologies? 

AI and Gen AI is a reality and will disrupt and transform a wide range of industries. Most skills are likely to be redundant by the time students graduate from a course. According to World Economic Forum, one in four jobs are set to change in the next five years. In this context as a B-school, we are evaluating how to embrace these technologies in the classroom to accelerate the rate of learning while also making students aware of potential limitations and societal impact of these tools. The key is to help students learn to see and use these as collaborative tools to improve efficiency and effectiveness and not as a substitute. Gen AI tools have enormous potential to facilitate self-learning, customised to individual’s learning pace on diverse topics, from improving their cognitive ability to virtual internships where they would gain practical experience of a job profile.
 
What is the current thrust area at the institution and what have been some significant changes in terms of infrastructure, faculty recruitment and curriculum revamp?

We have recently articulated KJ Somaiya Institute of Management’s purpose, ‘Together we enable transformation journeys of individuals to value-based and purpose-driven leaders for building a better world’. The stated purpose together with our values - integrity, excellence, curiosity, collaborative and humility, is the basis for all the change initiatives at the institute. Our revamped curriculum will ensure our graduates are ‘day-1 ready’, having a balance of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills while having a non-compromising attitude to ‘values’ and a deep understanding of subjects that are likely to be disruptive and transformative in their careers such as sustainability, net zero, climate change & Gen AI. To meet these objectives, we have reduced classroom sessions and substituted it with experiential learning through live projects, summer internships and capstone projects.
 
How is NEP being rolled out on the campus? 

The principle of NEP is a holistic development while fostering individual capabilities. The initiatives described above are in perfect synchrony with these principles and objectives. In addition, as a constituent institute of Somaiya Vidyavihar University, our students have access to courses beyond the B-school curriculum in one of the over 30 sister institutions such as Institute of Design, Somaiya Sports Academy, Institute of Dharma studies, to name a few. To facilitate this, we are transitioning from a trimester system to a semester-based system.
 
What are the changing expectations of the corporate world and industry and how are you meeting those expectations? 

Our specific research in India and research from across the world indicates that industry expects MBA graduates to have functional competency, technology orientation with high levels of soft skills. The corporate world wants employees who are agile, resilient and willing to continue with the organisation for an extended period. To meet these expectations, we have restructured our programmes from sector specific programmes (MBA in Retail Management, Financial Services, Integrated Marketing Communications, International Business, HR and Data Science & Analytics) to programmes where the first year is devoted to foundational subjects and in the second year students opt to do a major in disciplines such as Finance, Marketing, Data Science & Analytics, HR, Operations and also choose a minor that would complement their area of specialisation. With this, students get a deep understanding of the principles of management that will continue to be relevant while specialising with current industry relevant skills and practices.
 
What are the biggest challenges before B-schools today and what solutions would you suggest? 

Management is perhaps one of the most important innovations of humankind and many principles of management will continue to be relevant despite the digital and other technological disruptions. B-schools must take these big tectonic shifts and disruptions that are happening and redesign their programmes to meet both the student and the industry needs. If B-schools fail to do this through sufficient retraining of their faculty and redesigning of their programmes, there is a risk of being irrelevant.
 
What are the changing aspirations of students, what experience do they want while at B- school and how are you meeting those aspirations?  

Students look at management education from a placement perspective with a salary that provides adequate return on their investment. Consequently, there is often a mismatch between their aptitude, understanding of job profile and the offer that they take up. This leads to early attrition which is a cause for concern, both for the students and the recruiters. We have a track record of nearly 100 per cent placement but continue to invest to ensure that students are placed on jobs that meet their strengths and aspirations. We are also helping students to recognise that B-school degree is the beginning of their transformational journey and offering tools so they recognise their competency profile early and plan their career to leverage their strengths.