IIMs chart post-pandemic ready courses

Accepting the feedback from India Inc., the IIMs will teach the coming batches on how to handle attrition and human resources in startups, how to establish a fintech firm, competing in times of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and facets of healthcare management and blockchain. 

“IIMs have interaction with industry heads all the time and any change or update in the needs of India Inc. gets reflected in our studies. This is how discipline marries domain expertise,” Debashis Chatterjee, director of IIM-Kozhikode, told Mint. 

“Subjects that need to be taught now include climate change and its impact on business, and aspects of foreign policy,” he added.

India’s premier institutions overhauled their subjects and introduced electives that resonate with the changes in the corporate world. Some of them may be compulsory while others are electives.

IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) said the courses are being offered to students keeping in mind the additional skill requirements for future managers, given how businesses have evolved for the post-pandemic reality.

They include: happiness, emotional stability and authentic living; privacy paradox: artificial intelligence and digital platforms; economic ideas from ancient India; and managing modern retail in the omnichannel world. IIM-A has introduced them over the last two years and the batch of 2023 will have more than 15 new electives to choose from.

In IIM Lucknow, the new batch will get to choose from understanding HR in startups, Total Rewards and Measures; Legal Aspects of Banking and Negotiable Instruments; Building and Managing Financial Institution amongst scores of other subjects.

“In this post-pandemic world, industries have witnessed a significant increase in the demand for skilled graduates adept at not only technical skills, including knowledge about data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, python, etc., but who excel at managerial, leadership, and communication skills as well,” said Himanshu Rai, director, IIM-Indore (IIMI). Some of the new electives at IIMI are financial macroeconomics, AI and ML for business, python hands-on, and regression analysis for managers.