– Prof. Rahul Singh, Director and Professor, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida

Joel Mokyr, recipient of the 2025 Nobel Prize and one of the world’s leading economic historians, has transformed our understanding of how knowledge, innovation, and institutions drive long-term economic growth. His pioneering work explains how the Industrial Revolution was powered by the creation, diffusion, and application of useful knowledge, highlighting entrepreneurship and innovation as fundamental drivers of sustained economic evolution. The foundations of scientific discovery and technological advancement will continue to accelerate innovation and economic transformation.

Business education is no exception. Over the last few decades, it has responded to industrial evolution by optimising production, developing capabilities to manage across cultures and markets, and addressing the needs of the digital economy through an emphasis on analytics, innovation, and customer-centricity. The last two decades have further accelerated this pace of evolution. New-age companies with innovative ideas and platform-based business models have transformed the business landscape. These developments demand a new set of knowledge, skills, and work attitudes. An entrepreneurial mindset is now essential for developing solution-oriented approaches. Venture creation skills and an understanding of entrepreneurship are evolving into core business competencies, while familiarity with AI systems is reducing transaction costs, accelerating experimentation, and enabling rapid venture validation.

In response, business schools are revisiting their teaching and learning (T&L) models to address the cognitive, interpersonal, self-leadership, and digital pillars that McKinsey has framed as DELTAs (Distinct Elements and Traits of Talent). However, there is no universally tested or validated success model yet, so institutions are experimenting with their research capabilities and pedagogical frameworks. They recognise that MBA programmes require a shift towards a more dynamic approach to teaching and learning. Leading business schools are, first, shifting the T&L goal from merely introducing innovation and technology into classrooms to building learner agency by giving students ownership of their pace, path, and purpose. Second, they are redesigning degree outcomes based on McKinsey’s 56-skill framework or other frameworks aligned with programme objectives. Finally, they are building connected ecosystems that integrate business schools, employers, communities, and digital platforms.

Some institutions, including Jaipuria Institute of Management, are reversing the traditional learning curve by moving from practice to theory rather than theory to practice. This means offering courses that begin with market research, transform problem statements into business ideas, and teach venture creation from the outset. Such an approach helps students develop essential business competencies, including market research, project and financial management, negotiation, and partnership development around value propositions. It also strengthens organisational capabilities such as team management, communication, collaboration, problem-solving, decision-making, and effective stakeholder engagement. Alongside these competencies, modern leadership requires additional capabilities, including ethical reasoning, systems thinking, emotional intelligence, digital fluency, and the ability to lead organisational transformation.

These capabilities must be embedded into the curriculum itself. As business schools redefine foundational MBA courses such as finance, marketing, operations, and business analytics, AI should be integrated across these disciplines as both an application tool and a conceptual framework for solving business problems and driving innovation, rather than being taught as a standalone subject. Similarly, entrepreneurship and venture creation should become cross-cutting mindsets instead of niche specialisations, enabling students to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving business environment. Leadership development should also place greater emphasis on ethical decision-making, resilience, interdisciplinary collaboration, and responsible AI governance.

Globally, leading business schools are already responding to these market realities by redesigning MBA programmes around the convergence of artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, venture creation, and modern leadership. Hult International Business School embeds AI into experiential learning, enabling students to solve live business challenges while developing global leadership capabilities. Babson College, renowned for its Entrepreneurial Thought & Action philosophy, uses AI to accelerate opportunity discovery, venture validation, and innovation while emphasising creativity, resilience, and entrepreneurial judgement. Stevens Institute of Technology integrates AI, analytics, innovation, and business education to prepare graduates for technology-driven organisations through interdisciplinary learning and industry collaboration. The Indian School of Business (ISB) is strengthening AI-enabled management education by integrating analytics, digital transformation, entrepreneurship, and responsible leadership across its curriculum and research ecosystem. At Jaipuria Institute of Management, we are similarly embedding AI applications and an entrepreneurial mindset into the core curriculum rather than treating them as electives. This is delivered through workshops, simulations, and interactions with companies and start-ups. Despite their distinct approaches, these institutions share a common vision: AI is not taught as a standalone technology but integrated across disciplines; entrepreneurship is viewed as a core managerial capability; and leadership development is centred on cultivating a growth mindset.

More broadly, business education needs the freedom to evolve continuously, much like medical education, which regularly adapts its curriculum and practice in response to emerging scientific knowledge and societal needs. This transformation in medicine began with the landmark Flexner Report of 1910, which established rigorous standards, integrated research with teaching, and institutionalised continuous curriculum reform. Business education has yet to experience a comparable systemic transformation. In an era shaped by AI, entrepreneurship, and rapid technological change, business schools must adopt a similarly dynamic model that enables continuous innovation, evidence-based curriculum redesign, and closer alignment with the evolving needs of industry and society.

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