No AI product, no MBA degree: BITSoM Mumbai integrates artificial intelligence across all management courses

Saravanan Kesavan, dean of BITS School of Management (BITSoM) Mumbai, during a conversation with Careers360 spoke about what sets BITSoM apart, the integration of AI into the curriculum, the role of international faculty who teach 90% of the courses, the institute’s acceptance rate, scholarships, and the influence of coaching institutes. Edited excerpts:

BITS is known for its STEM programmes and yet BITS Pilani Mumbai’s focus is on non-stem courses.

BITS Pilani has five campuses – Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad, Dubai, and Mumbai – with Mumbai being the newest and notably the first non-STEM campus focused on non-technical education. It includes three schools: management, law, and design, and has already graduated four batches.

The vision behind this campus, driven by chancellor Kumar Mangalam Birla, is to bring global-quality education to India, particularly in business, reducing the need for students to go abroad. To achieve this, the institution emphasises on world-class faculty, adopting a visiting faculty model where over 90% of courses are taught by international professors from leading institutions such as the Wharton School, New York University Stern School of Business, UT Austin McCombs School of Business, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. These professors bring and teach the same courses they offer at their home institutions.

Doesn’t bringing in international faculty clash with your curriculum?

Not really. If you look at MBA courses globally, the overall curriculum is largely similar. Core subjects like finance, accounting, and operations are fundamental, every MBA student, regardless of the institution, is expected to learn these. So at a structural level, there isn’t much conflict.

What we do differently is how we deliver this curriculum. We bring in faculty from leading global institutions to teach specific courses. For example, in operations, we’ve had professors from IE Business School, one of Europe’s top-ranked schools. They teach the same material here that they would to their own MBA students. Similarly, our accounting classes are taught by faculty associated with Kellogg School of Management.

At the same time, we maintain a clear overarching structure for the curriculum. We know how the programme needs to be designed, and where each course fits. The visiting faculty are integrated into that framework, they contribute their expertise in specific areas without disrupting the overall design. So rather than a clash, it’s more of a collaboration. The core curriculum remains intact, while the learning experience is enriched through diverse, international perspectives.

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How do you ensure student quality at BITsom, number of applications received, and your acceptance rate?

Last year, our acceptance rate was less than 2% and this year we have received over 7,000 applications for the new batch. We look for holistic candidates, not just students who excel academically. Of course, strong grades matter, but we also evaluate essays and conduct interviews to understand their mindset. We believe top academic scores alone do not make a great manager – critical managerial skills, team leadership, and navigating ambiguity, require qualities that go beyond test results or IQ percentiles. That’s what we prioritise in our selection process.

What about students from challenging socio-economic backgrounds? Are there provisions like student loans or scholarships?

Yes, absolutely. We offer scholarships to help students from diverse backgrounds pursue their education without financial constraints.

What about students from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities who may not have coaching backgrounds?

India’s coaching culture often favours students with access to expensive preparatory courses, which can overshadow raw talent or real-world skills. At BITsom, we actively look beyond test scores. We create opportunities like coffee chats and informal interactions where students can share their experiences.

Often, we discover incredible potential in candidates who might not initially present themselves confidently. Life experience is critical. A student who grew up traveling 10 kilometers to a rural school, or who has navigated challenging circumstances, often brings grit, perspective, and problem-solving skills that polished urban students may lack. During interviews, our goal is to uncover strengths that candidates themselves might undervalue.

Case studies have always played a central role in MBA education. What is unique about the approach at your campus?

It’s really about striking the right balance. On the one hand, many of the world’s leading companies are based in the US, Europe, Singapore, and it’s important for students to understand global best practices. That’s why we include international case studies featuring top global firms.

We place strong emphasis on Indian case studies as well. While a significant portion of our visiting faculty comes from abroad, we also have professors from leading Indian institutions such as Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta and others, who bring deep insights into the Indian business environment.

In addition, we regularly invite industry practitioners to teach, ensuring that students are exposed not just to theory, but to real-world challenges and experiences. This combination allows us to offer both global perspective and local relevance.

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Mumbai already has a strong legacy of management education with institutions like IIM Mumbai and IIT Bombay. What is BITSoM’s USP?

Our programme stands out on three key dimensions. First is global, state-of-the-art education. And when I say “state-of-the-art,” I don’t mean in a local or incremental sense, I mean at the level of what is being taught at the very best institutions in the world today. The reason we can deliver is because of our visiting faculty model.

This model gives us a level of flexibility that most traditional schools don’t have. Institutions with permanent faculty structures often find it difficult to update content at the pace the world is evolving. In contrast, we can identify experts who are working at the cutting edge and bring them directly into our classrooms.

The second USP is our strong focus on workplace readiness and soft skills. Through structured modules, we address an often-overlooked gap in Indian management education, preparing students to navigate real-world organisational dynamics.

One key challenge is that Indian MBA students, on average, tend to have less work experience compared to their counterparts in the US or Europe. Many come straight from academically rigorous environments with limited exposure to real-world ambiguity. In contrast, students abroad often gain early experience through part-time jobs or volunteering, which helps them develop interpersonal skills, resilience, and practical problem-solving abilities. These are not things that traditional classrooms easily teach.

We try to bridge that gap. Through simulations, live projects, NGO engagements, and experiential learning, we expose students to situations where they must navigate uncertainty, manage people, and take initiative. Because ultimately, management is not just about knowing concepts, it’s about getting things done through people.

And that leads to the third USP: developing independent, action-oriented thinkers. In the real world, managers don’t provide step-by-step instructions. They define outcomes and expect you to figure out the path.

Our programme emphasizes this shift in mindset. Instead of encouraging dependency, we push students to take ownership. So when you put it all together, the differentiator is clear: a globally benchmarked curriculum, delivered by world-class faculty, combined with a deep focus on practical skills and real-world readiness.

Do you also provide corporate exposure to support this soft skills learning?

Absolutely. In fact, that’s a critical part of what we’re trying to address. Indian students are exceptionally strong when it comes to analytical thinking and problem-solving. Where the gap often lies is in understanding how organisations actually function.

Being work-ready isn’t just about knowledge; it’s about navigating the unwritten rules of the workplace. While no academic environment can fully replicate the real world, we make a conscious effort to bridge that gap. Through corporate interactions, live projects, and experiential modules, students are exposed to situations that mirror workplace challenges.

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Do students also participate in internships as part of the programme?

Yes, 100% of our students complete internships. It’s mandatory between the first and second year, typically lasting three months. Beyond that, we also offer several experiential learning components. These opportunities complement the classroom experience, helping them bridge theory and practice.

Should this MBA courses be pursued by freshers, or is it better suited for those with prior work experience?

I would say it can work for freshers, but context matters. Students with prior work experience often appreciate and extract more from the MBA because they can immediately relate concepts to real-world situations. We have seen some exceptional freshers who demonstrate remarkable maturity and readiness. Their undergraduate experiences, internships, or even personal projects have prepared them to take full advantage of the programme, sometimes even more effectively than someone with three to four years of industry experience.

So, there’s no strict yes-or-no answer. Only about 12% of our cohort comes in right after their undergraduate studies, while the majority have some professional experience.

In many top schools abroad, work experience is mandatory for MBA admissions. Yet in India, institutions admit freshers. What’s your take on this?

It really depends on the type of learning we’re talking about. For analytical subjects, like operations, pricing a product, managing inventory, freshers can grasp the concepts quite well. These are largely technical skills that don’t require prior professional experience.

The difference becomes more apparent in areas like organisational behaviour. Here, the learning is deeply tied to real-world experience. A fresher, by definition, hasn’t yet led or worked in a team with 15 diverse individuals. They haven’t faced the challenges of balancing aptitude and attitude, or dealing with conflicting ideas and work styles.

Experience allows students to reflect on these situations and connect classroom theories to real-life scenarios. That reflection makes education far more valuable.

How many niche specialisations does your campus offer?

We offer around five or six core specialisations, including finance, consulting, and the usual management tracks. What sets us apart is our approach to emerging technologies like AI. Many schools today offer AI as a separate specialisation, but we made a conscious decision not to do that. Our reasoning is simple: AI is a horizontal skill, it cuts across every domain. So rather than siloing AI into one specialisation, we integrate it across the curriculum, ensuring every student gains fluency. It’s a deliberate choice to make AI a foundational competency, not an elective niche.

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What does your AI curriculum look like? Is it focused on using AI tools in day-to-day work, or do students also learn to develop AI themselves?

We take a very hands-on approach. At BITSoM, students build AI products as part of their learning. Starting this year, graduating students are required to develop an AI product, no exceptions. If you don’t build one, you don’t graduate.

By creating an AI product, students gain first-hand experience of the complexities and possibilities involved. Our curriculum goes beyond using tools like ChatGPT or other generative AI platforms. We push students to a much deeper level of sophistication, designing and implementing AI solutions, not just interacting with them.

Since AI is integrated across the curriculum, how do you ensure students from non-technical backgrounds can keep up and maintain quality?

You’d be surprised. Some of the students presenting AI demos come from completely non-technical backgrounds, yet they’re building functional AI tools like chatbots. The reality is that with AI, you don’t need to be a traditional coder or have a technical background to participate meaningfully. What matters most is understanding how to use the tools responsibly, recognising biases, designing solutions thoughtfully, and knowing how to leverage generative AI like ChatGPT to build functional applications.

Even non-technical students learn the basics of coding in a way that allows them to develop AI products. And the confidence they gain is just as important as the skills themselves.

Starting the 2026–27 batch, all management students graduating in 2026 will have AI integrated as a mandatory part of their curriculum.

Are there short-term courses or opportunities for alumni to gain AI exposure?

Absolutely. We’ve launched an online reskilling programme to make AI accessible beyond just our students. This includes people from other colleges and professionals with one or two years of work experience. Alumni are also welcome in the classroom sessions.

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Are law and design students exposed to AI as well?

Yes, they are engaging with AI, but from their domain perspectives. For law, the impact of AI is enormous, think of intellectual property, liability, and emerging legal challenges. In design, AI is influencing workflows, creativity, and innovation processes.

Will AI become compulsory for these programmes too?

No, those are separate schools with their own teams and curricula. So the mandate applies specifically to the management programme.