IIM-A, THE HARBINGER OF CHANGE

From offering hybrid MBA and launching industry relevant online courses to internationalising its curriculum, IIM-A is looking at business education through a new lens.

- Ajita Shashidhar

INDIAN INSTITUTE of Ahmedabad (IIM-A) is India's top B-school whose alumni includes Ajay Banga, Raghuram Rajan, K.V. Kamath, Arvind Subramanian, Shikha Sharma and Falguni Nayar. It was in an unusual spotlight recently as YouTuber Navya Naveli Nanda (granddaughter of Bollywood icon Amitab Bachchan) took admission in recently launche blended MBA programme. It may not need that kind of publicity but this does inte cate its appetite to char with the times.

While the B-school's two-year on-campus MBA programme continues to be the most coveted, over past few years, it has started democratising manage ment education. Recently, it launched hybrid MBA, a combination of online and offline. Priced at ₹20 lakh compared to conventional two-year MBA's ₹26.50 lakh fee, it requires students be present on campus for just 30 days. "Every term starts on campus. The remaining classes are onl The curriculum is 85% the same as the two-year campus programme (since you are working, you avoid certain base programm The faculty is also the same," says Bharat Bhasker, director, IIM-A.