Last Updated on January 14, 2026
MBAUniverse.com News Desk
At a time when global management education is being reshaped by rapid technological change, evolving industry expectations, and shifting career pathways, Business Schools are rethinking how MBA graduates should be prepared for the new future of jobs and work. Led by Director Dr. Atish Chattopadhyay, IMT Ghaziabad has undertaken a strategic shift towards a role-competency based MBA framework that links curriculum design, pedagogy, assessment, and placements more closely with real-world roles. IMT Ghaziabad announced significant improvement in placements 2026 outcomes.
Alert! MBA Admission 2026 Open in Top Colleges. Apply Now. | |
|---|---|
| SPJIMR Mumbai PGDM Admission- Apply Now | MDI Gurgaon PGDM Admission- Apply Now |
| XIM University Bhubaneswar Admission- Apply Now | IBSAT Exam 2025 Online Registration-Register Now |
MBAUniverse.com interviewed Dr Chattopadhyay to explores how IMT Ghaziabad is aligning academics with practice, strengthening faculty and industry engagement, and reimagining placements. Dr. Chattopadhyay shared the context, philosophy and processes adopted to align MBA with changing expectations. He also spoke on evolving role of artificial intelligence in management education. Read this exclusive interview for right insights and inspirations.
Q: You re-joined IMT Ghaziabad in February 2025 after a gap of seven years. What have been the key focus areas over the past year?
A: IMT Ghaziabad is backed by a strong legacy of 45 years, excellent faculty, a robust alumni network, and strong industry and community connections. Going forward, I visualize it as a legacy institution that continues to experiment and innovate - a fusion of tradition and modernity. We have set four priorities: strengthening industry integration and creating curricula aligned to industry needs, digital transformation, internationalization, and strengthening the alumni network.
Q: What key initiatives have been undertaken in these areas, and what early outcomes are emerging?
A: We have taken many specific initiatives. Let me highlight a few key ones:
We also organised a series of faculty seminars for knowledge sharing including a private seminar by Harvard Business School faculty on participant centered learning using AI. We also oriented our faculty to develop and teach with AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality). We are also exploring opportunities to enhance the career opportunities of our graduates in Dubai and European countries. Recently, we signed an MOU with Aviancity Paris, which is a specialised institution for AI. We recently registered the IMT Ghaziabad Alumni Association as a separate entity. We will soon partner with three other European partners in Spain, Germany and France.
Q: Amid 22 IIMs, legacy institutions, and new start-up B-schools, how does IMT Ghaziabad differentiate itself today?
A: IMT Ghaziabad was founded by an industrialist Shri Mahendra Nath with an objective to impart management education rooted to business or practice. We at IMT Ghaziabad recently deliberated on our mission and positioning and it was decided that IMT Ghaziabad will position itself as “A Professional School Contributing to the Knowledge Economy”. I feel happy that our faculty, alumni, professional staff and the board continue to reinforce the belief of the founder who wanted the institution to be a “professional school” with focus on “practice”, which remains our true differentiator.
Our relentless focus to be in sync with practice and to keep on learning and experimenting with new practices and pedagogy is what will continue to keep IMT Ghaziabad graduates ahead of the curve.
Regarding competition and increasing number of IIMs in India, my take is that there are 500+ institutions in USA which are AACSB accredited, while the number of AACSB accredited institutions in India is still less than 30. Given India’s size, we need 1000+ AACSB accredited B-Schools in India – that will make India retain the talent from going abroad for studies, and make India a global destination for business education!
Q: Companies are increasingly hiring MBAs for specific roles, competencies, and skills. How do you view this shift?
A: Yes, disruption is the new normal. Companies today do not have the time and bandwidth to groom talent. Graduates need to be ‘Role-Ready’ from ‘Day-Zero’.
To be successful in the first job, technical skills assume more significance than the generic knowledge and skills. Also, ‘knowledge’ today has become perishable. That is the reason the hiring has become role-specific and moved away from generic ‘management trainee’ profiles.
Q: What initiatives is IMT Ghaziabad undertaking to create these role-ready professionals?
A: As I said, in today’s dynamic and rapidly evolving industry landscape, employers are no longer just looking for merely qualified candidates; they are seeking professionals who are truly role-ready. Our Role Competency Playbook bridges this gap by ensuring that academic preparation is closely aligned with the competencies demanded in the job market. It offers a structured framework that connects academic learning directly to career outcomes.
Q: Can you explain how Role Competency Playbook is actually developed?
A: The process of developing this Role-Competency playbook begins with identifying key Job Descriptions (JDs) and mapping them to the core competencies. These are technical, functional, and behavioural competencies that are required for success in the given roles. These competencies are then translated into specific skills, knowledge areas, and tools, which are systematically aligned with relevant courses across foundation, core, specialization and role specific career tracks. Students can curate a clear and targeted learning path based on their aspirations.
Q: What are the early outcomes from this new model for students?
A: The Role-Competency Playbook benefits our students by making their education purpose-driven. It helps them to understand how each course builds job readiness, informs smarter career decisions, and ensures they graduate with industry-relevant capabilities from ‘Day-Zero’.
Students use the playbook as a personal roadmap—beginning with the roles they aspire to, then working backwards to identify the competencies, skills, and courses they need to focus on. This approach empowers them to take ownership of their learning journey and graduate with a focused, career-aligned profile that stands out in a competitive job market.
Q: How does this approach help recruiters?
A: Adopting the role-competency based approach addresses three major angsts of recruiters:
Q: IMT Ghaziabad’s Interim Placements 2026 report reflects stronger salary and overall outcomes. What factors contributed to these results?
A: There is a strategic shift in IMT Ghaziabad placement philosophy. We are moving away from generic placement approach to a niche role-competency based model.
As I said earlier, companies today are recruiting for roles and not functions – the JD is for ‘performance marketer’ or an ‘investment banker’ not for a generic marketing or finance professional. This is distinct from the way campus recruitment used to happen earlier, which was like a ‘Marketing Trainee’.
With recruiters looking for role specific competencies, it is important that as an institution we provide a roadmap to our learners to prepare themselves for a role of their choice.
Q: What were the key steps involved in implementing this shift at IMT Ghaziabad?
A: We clearly defined our objective in terms alignment of learner competencies with the ‘role expectations’. The starting point were the JDs (Job descriptions) from our current and potential recruiters. Each JD typically outlines:
Thus, the role JD serves as the foundation, detailing the functional and technical areas the individual must master. From the JD, we derive competencies — the critical capabilities necessary for success. These competencies are categorized into:
These competencies are defined as "what an individual must be able to do" to deliver role outcomes effectively. Competencies are operationalized through:
This mapping ensures that each competency translates into a set of actionable, measurable capabilities.
We formed an assessment centre at IMT Ghaziabad that assesses each student, providing a clear picture of their strengths and areas for improvement. Competencies such as problem solving, communication, teamwork, interpersonal effectiveness, creativity, innovation, customer focus, adaptability to change, leadership potential, and analytical skills are typically assessed in the assessment centre. Each student is provided with a report which acts as a guide while making their career choice. For example, a student who is strong in analytical skills and weak in customer focus may pursue a career in marketing analytics rather than struggling in customer facing sales role.
The focus at IMT Ghaziabad is on students’ strengths, while making career choices rather than struggling in a role which doesn’t align to the inherent strengths. No two individuals are the same – every student has a unique orientation and should be allowed to choose their career in tune with their aspirations. If a student is aware, that she is preparing for a ‘marketing analyst’ role, she will also choose courses and undertake projects which develops the required technical and functional competencies for the role.
The role of the institution and the faculty is that of a facilitator…
Q: How does this approach improve “Time to Recruit, Time to Deploy, and Time to Perform”? Please elaborate…
A: In this approach the students self-select into the roles. For example, the student preparing for the ‘Marketing Analyst’ role will not apply to company looking for an ‘Area Sales Manager’ – this provides the recruiting partner to only look at students who are interested and prepared for the role.
The recruiter need not go through a bunch of ‘look alike’ CVs or interview a large group to identify the right fit. This saves the time to recruit. When a candidate who has the right behavioural competencies prepare oneself with the required technical and functional competencies to perform the role, the recruiter saves time in training the fresh recruit. A resource who is trained for the role with the required knowledge and skills can perform from day zero.
Q: How does IMT Ghaziabad plan to build on the early success of its role-competency-based placement model?
A: Nothing succeeds like success! Now that the result of the experiment is visible, the faculty, the professional staff in our career services and the students are now working in unison to further strengthen what we have already built. Shortly, we will publish a book based on the proof of concept so that more institutions and the larger community can benefit from the same.
Q: Who is the ideal candidate for IMT Ghaziabad, and how does the institute assess them?
A: We are looking for an individual who is curious and willing to learn, can work in a team, is willing to dirty one’s hand and some fire-in-the-belly. In addition to areas that standardized tests (CAT/GMAT) assess, our admission process is designed to assess following areas:
When our faculty will look at an aspirant, I assume they will wear the lens of a potential recruiter to explore which role the aspirant will fit into as she graduates and whether she has a willingness to learn and can create an agenda for self-development for a successful career as a management professional.
Q: How do you interpret the decline in CAT 2025 registrations? Is the MBA losing its appeal?
A: This decline is a good sign as only those who are serious should apply for an MBA program. The biggest damage that we have done to MBA aspirants is by making starting salary of MBA graduates a proxy measure for success. An MBA degree unlocks the network and the potential. MBA provides the platform and prepares an individual for future success.
Is MBA necessary for everyone? No, and that’s fine!
Q: Finally, turning to artificial intelligence (AI), how do you assess its impact on management education?
A: With more than 90% of Indian office workers using AI tools daily, India leads global AI adoption, creating both immense opportunity and responsibility for business education. The question is no longer “What can AI do?” but “What can we do together?”
In this AI-augmented model, students will receive personalized insights shaped by faculty expertise, not generic algorithmic responses. The next evolution of the MBA will fuse human wisdom with machine intelligence, producing leaders equipped for a transformed world.
At IMT Ghaziabad, we aim not merely to adopt AI but to co-create the future of AI-driven learning. AI will serve as an integral pedagogical partner, enhancing teaching while retaining the human essence of mentorship.
We as faculty, professional staff and the administrators will need to work with AI and will need to adopt to the new reality, just like Amitabh Bachchan adopted with the small screen.
Q: Will AI replace management educators, as some experts suggest?
A: There is a school of thought which assumes that AI will replace teachers. I do not subscribe to that, as ‘teaching’ is a performing art and I strongly believe that the teacher in central to learning. The atmosphere within the classroom is like that of a theatre – the peers, the interactions and the magic created by the demeanour of the teacher has a lasting impact on the ‘Being’ of a learner, which AI can never replicate. The teacher inspires; AI can only transmit.
Learning only from AI is like ‘Ekalvya’ learning from the Avtar (replica) of ‘Dronachrya’ in Mahabharata.
IMT Ghaziabad is one of the top MBA colleges in India with strong placements and MBA rankings. IMT Ghaziabad offers PGDM Marketing, Finance, Banking & Financial Services, Dual Country Program amongst others. IMT Ghaziabad Placements are at par with new IIMs and other leading B-schools. IMT Ghaziabad batch consists of over 40% female candidates. IMT Ghaziabad admission 2026 is open. Apply now.
