Mumbai: The pressure cooker of management school interviews this year acquired a digital sheen. Instead of facing a panel of professors, candidates at a city B-school sat across a panel that comprised a teacher and an AI-assisted interviewer—an indigenous tool on a computer designed to probe, analyse, and even cross-check responses. “You mentioned your role in your family business,” the AI prompted an interviewee. “Can you share examples of the changes you introduced?” The algorithm listened, parsed, and flagged discrepancies—picking up contradictions between the candidate’s answers and statement of purpose.
Welcome to the new age of Indian campuses, where AI is reshaping day-to-day activities. If AI-assisted interviews have already started refining student selection at NMIMS School of Business Management, a committee of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, decided to use AI to tailor sharper lessons. Dr Homi Bhabha State University has an entire digital workforce of ‘AI agents’ to handle administrative tasks, such as scheduling calls or interviews. In some schools, AI-driven solutions customise learning for students with special needs.
About the newly formed ‘teaching, learning and assessment committee’ at IIT-B, director Shireesh Kedare said it’s an attempt to modify pedagogy and make teaching more active. Formed six months ago, the panel took inputs from various departments to take teaching beyond what is available on the Web and assess whether IIT-B could incorporate activities in the classroom or reshape assessment in a manner that students could use their creativity and not just input data in an AI tool for answers.
For many institutes, AI is breaking down large systems into smaller and more achievable goals. Technology is eliminating inefficiencies, ensuring teachers can focus on creativity, mentorship, and critical thinking, rather than get bogged down by administrative work. Textbook publisher Navneet is offering an AI tool with its books to help teachers draw up presentations, use simulations, and even offer “deeper research” for students wanting to explore beyond.
At HBSU, AI is not just facilitating education, it’s redefining student support services. “We are using agentic AI for personalised performance assessments,” said Vice-Chancellor Rajanish Kamat. These AI systems pinpoint areas where students struggle, and generate customised remedial teaching sessions.
Consider the experience of NMIMS School of Business Management, which picked up around 2,000 from the thousands of candidates who applied this year with the help of an AI tool. “The AI-assisted interviews allowed all candidates a uniform duration — 20 minutes — to prove themselves. The AI tool has their resume and statement of purpose uploaded in the backdrop, and apart from general questions, some are asked from what they submitted in their documents,” explained Pro-Vice Chancellor Sharad Mhaiskar. The month-long exercise of interviews, said candidates, felt a lot less stressful, in some cases very relevant. “When I went to another B-school for an interview, I was asked questions about my religion, another panellist asked me who from my past I would like to meet once before I die,” said Aakash Gujral, a management aspirant.
AI’s integration into curriculum design is now nearly universal across institutions. Many have already embedded AI modules within their coursework. Meanwhile, schools like R. N. Podar School are experimenting with AI to make teaching plans. “We are trying to use AI to predict which colleges students should apply to based on past performance, chart their mental health trends, and improve teaching methodologies,” said Director-Principal Avnita Bir.
While AI offers remarkable advantages, institutions remain mindful of its ethical challenges and privacy concerns. “We have experts advising us on using AI responsibly so that no student is harmed,” Bir added.