Engineers had the largest share in India’s top management schools for several years. That trend is now changing quickly. In recent years, many top B-schools have seen the number of non-engineering graduates match or even exceed the number of engineering graduates. Reports indicate that more than 55% of IIM Indore’s 2025-27 flagship MBA batch are from non-engineering fields. It was followed by IIM Lucknow with around 53% and IIM Ahmedabad stands at 50% of the batch having non-engineer students. Earlier, most batches in leading B-schools had 70% or more engineers. However, this dominance has been reduced in recent years. The aim is to create interactive classrooms where students from different academic backgrounds share their perspectives. This approach can equip them with the leadership qualities that help them excel in their chosen career.
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Why is there Shift towards more Non-engineers in the Management Institute?
Here are key reasons why there is a shift towards more Non-Engineers in B-schools shared below:
Shift in Job Market Requirements
Nowadays, companies do not only focus on numerical understanding and reasoning skills. They also prioritise communication, decision-making, teamwork, and interpersonal skills. Non-engineering graduates have more experience in exploring these areas during their higher education.
Wider range of skills in the classroom
An MBA classroom with both engineers and non-engineers leads to interactive and engaging discussions. Engineers offer technical skills to solve the problems. While non-engineers contribute communication and business knowledge. This helps students handle management problems with a balanced viewpoint.
Efforts by B-schools
Various business schools have modified their MBA admission process in recent years. They also consider parameters like academic records, work experience, and diversity, along with CAT scores. This provides an equal chance to students from different educational backgrounds to secure MBA admissions.
Rising interest among Non-engineers
Candidates from commerce, arts, humanities and other backgrounds are strongly participating in the MBA entrance test. They are preparing diligently to match engineers and perform well in the exam.
Non-Engineers Take the Lead in India’s Top MBA Classrooms- What Does Data Say?
- According to director Himanshu Rai, IIM Indore has welcomed more non-engineer students over the last 5 years. The 2025-27 MBA batch included 91 men and 179 women who were non-engineers. It was more than the total number of engineers. The percentage of non-engineers in previous batches was as follows:
- 2021-23 batch: 41%
- 2022-24 batch: 33%
- 2023-25 batch: 39%
- 2024-26 batch: 42%
- The non-engineers’ representation in IIM Ahmedabad has climbed from one-third of the batch to half in 3 years. According to the Director Bharat Bhasker, the institute launched different academic categories to add more variety to its batches. This led to an increase in non-engineer applications and made the batch composition more balanced.
- In the 2025-27 MBA batch at IIM Lucknow, 268 are non-engineers out of the total 507 students. According to the director, MP Gupta, the majority of students come from commerce streams.
Benefits of Non-Engineers Take the Lead in India’s Top MBA Classrooms
Having students from different academic backgrounds can be beneficial for management education. Some of them are listed below.
- Students learn how to engage and understand people who have a different mindset. This will help them handle real workplace situations where teams include people from a variety of fields.
- Different academic backgrounds lead to different approaches to solving a problem. This allows students to develop solutions that focus on both analysis with practicality.
- Case studies and group projects become more interesting when students bring different perspectives.
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Conclusion
This shift in MBA classroom composition is expected to increase. Since businesses are hiring leaders with a mix of analytical and interpersonal skills, B-schools will maintain the diversity of their batches. It is even possible that no single academic background will dominate MBA batches in the future. MBA batches may include an equal number of students from commerce, arts, engineering, science, law, etc. This will make management education in India more diverse and aligned with global trends.
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