AMBA & BGA GLOBAL CONFERENCE 2026
Goa Institute of Management director Ajit Parulekar, meanwhile, described how MBA alumni are already benefitting from a lifelong association with their alma mater. “The sense of ownership and goodwill that you have is ongoing. Alumni meet regularly in different groups and not necessarily those from their cohort alone. The kind of benefit and reliance they can have on, say an alumni group in finance or for those working in social impact, is phenomenal.” The mechanics of the machine Challenges around the implementation of AI was the subject of the conference’s final panel session, with experts highlighting issues relating to policymaking and governance. Javier Camacho Ibáñez, vice-dean at Universidad Europea de Madrid spoke of the need to “embed AI oversight into the existing governance structure” arguing that it is ineffective for the technology to be treated in isolation. In a conversation chaired by Semantikmatch CEO Stéphane Ureña, Camacho also detailed how his school has developed an inventory of 70 AI use cases and the challenge of ensuring that “every AI initiative is registered and risk-assessed”. “We distinguish between traceability and explainability,” Camacho added. “Traceability is more related with datasets, documentation, processes and algorithms, while explainability is more about communicating decisions in an understandable way. This is a key issue because if we cannot trace how a system reaches a recommendation or decision, or we cannot explain it in plain language, we should not dedicate any consequential decisions to this system.” Audencia Business School associate dean Tamim Elbasha reinforced this point, in reference to anticipated external regulations. “From my understanding, the regulation that will come into place puts the burden on both the provider and the deployer. So, the opacity of the system or model is the responsibility of the provider, but the deployment opacity is our responsibility as an institution. We need to trace exactly which data has been used, what decision has been made, how it’s been made and whether it has involved any human oversight.” 4Uni Solutions founder Oliver Matthews, meanwhile, noted that mistakes regarding the implementation of AI often come right at the start of an institution’s decision-making process. “A common mistake is the assumption that AI is the answer before you discover the reason for a problem,” he remarked, adding that there is a temptation to look for ways to integrate AI simply because everyone else is using it. “That often leads to a whole series of future mistakes and a deployment failing because AI was not the right answer.”
who use AI to “amplify leadership rather than replace it”. Business schools must design curricula for “strategic delegation”, highlighted Patel, ie where students offload routine tasks to AI and reinvest their freed cognitive capacity into critique, judgement and high-level strategy. Another observation made during the session was how international student flows are experiencing structural rerouting. In autumn last year, 54 per cent of programmes in Asia-Pacific reported international enrolment growth, compared to 67 per cent of US programmes reporting declines (including a 45 per cent drop in students from India). Candidate preference for studying in Western Europe rose to 63 per cent, surpassing the US at 42 per cent. Consequently, internationalisation now requires “agile, regionalised delivery infrastructure rather than a uniform global strategy”, noted the GMAC executive. Lifelong learning: finding a balance Leaders from business schools in India and Denmark discussed the need to find a balance between structure and urgency when it comes to lifelong learning provision, in a panel chaired by AMBA & BGA’s Shikha Taunk. “The future belongs to neither rigid structures nor chaotic urgency. It belongs to an adaptive ecosystem where we evolve with the pace of industry and what we require is a combination of intellectual depth and market responsiveness,” deduced IIM Kozhikode’s Deepa Sethi. “We make sure that our lifelong learning programmes are driven by the changes and challenges taking place in industry,” added Copenhagen Business School programme director Irene Rosberg. In this, Rosberg pointed to the critical role played by members of an alumni board in giving “advice on what we should really be focusing on” and guiding programme design. Sethi further elaborated on the role of alumni at her school, detailing their involvement in everything from electives and executive courses co-taught with faculty to curriculum reviews and final admissions interviews. “We have alumni involvement at every step and I think that’s the way forward,” she surmised. Dispelling the notion of the MBA as a finite degree was another focal point of the session. Anupama Gupta, director of accreditation and rankings at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, considered the merits of changing mindsets so that schools and students both plan for “a longer association beyond two years” with continued development at certain milestones beyond graduation.
BGA’s head of business development Richard Turner (centre) chaired a panel on practical ways for business schools to embed digital transformation
Nalisha Patel, regional director for the Americas & Europe at GMAC, outlined the new skills employers seek from graduates
AMBA & BGA’s Shikha Taunk (centre) led a debate on lifelong learning featuring leaders from business schools in India and Denmark
Ambition • ISSUE 4 • 2026 23
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