BITS Pilani to invest ₹1,500 crore to set up B-school in Mumbai

NEW DELHI: There is a need to reimagine management education in a dramatically altered business environment, Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said on Thursday. He also announced that BITS Pilani will set up a B-school in Mumbai at an investment of ₹1,500 crore.

The BITS School of Management (BITSOM) will be established in Kalyan in Mumbai metropolitan region as a “zero carbon footprint campus”, said Birla, who is also the chancellor of the institution. The 60-acre permanent campus will be ready by 2024. The B-school will start academic operations from a temporary facility in Mumbai from July with 120 students.

“As we grow in our next generation of leaders a question that we must ask ourselves is whether management education has evolved enough. In my view, there is most definitely a place to reimagine management education in this dramatically altered business environment. There is a need to redefine the content, the format, and the delivery of an MBA programme,” he said in his virtual address. “We need to prepare a generation of leaders who are capable of not just solving problems presented to them but …leaders who see merit in both technological proficiency and social consequences, leaders who believe that profits and purpose can coexist, leaders who can balance the power of big data, and have respect for an individual’s privacy.” It is time to introduce a new way of thinking and prepare young leaders for this age of disruption, he said. “Building on the legacy of BITS Pilani…the endeavour is not just to redefine management education, but also help articulate the role of business in society. BITSOM will, in its unique way, advance the cumulative wisdom of management thinking in India. It will bring a new set of ideas, principles, and frameworks and collaborate with institutions to make India a potential global hub for management education.”