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Four decades later, IIM Lucknow bets on AI for its undergraduate debut
After three years, the students will have an exit option with a UG degree, and if they pursue the fourth year, they will receive an honours degree.
After four decades of shaping India’s top managers, the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIML) is poised for a major academic shift. Marking 41 years since its establishment, the premier B-school which ranks fourth among all IIMs after Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Kozhikode, is entering undergraduate education with a four-year programme that blends management studies with artificial intelligence (AI), set to begin from the 2026 academic session.
Traditionally known for its flagship two-year post graduate programme (PGP) in management, a team led by IIML director Prof MP Gupta is in touch with the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Lucknow, to understand how the UG courses are being conducted. They have also explored how management faculty can be trained in the field of AI.
“We have planned to blend management with AI to make it a unique four-year undergraduate course. IIML will open its doors to 10+2 students who will be given admission to this course. The blueprint for the programme is ready. Our director, Prof MP Gupta, will soon meet Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, probably next month, after which the details will be made public to the press,” said a senior professor of the institute, who wishes to remain unnamed, over the phone.
“The course has been approved by the IIML Board of Management. Most UG management programmes in existing universities are too theoretical. We are trying to be more innovative by blending AI into a four-year management programme,” said the professor.
Explaining the move, the IIML professor said, “We thought management education must enhance decision-making and offer practical application of theory to its students, and hence we decided to start a four-year UG programme. We plan to admit students who have qualified for JEE Advanced.”
After three years, the students will have an exit option with a UG degree, and if they pursue the fourth year, they will receive an honours degree.
IIML is not the first B-School to start a UG course. In September 2024, IIM Sirmaur became the first one to launch an undergraduate programme—Batcherlors of Management Studies (BMS). Between 2024 and 2025, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Sambalpur and IIM Kozhikode have launched full-time, residential four-year undergraduate programmes in fields such as management, public policy and emerging technologies, and IIM Bangalore introduced a three-year online bachelors in business administration in digital business and entrepreneurship (BBA–DBE).
In 2025, IIM Sirmaur’s BMS programme drew 2,373 applications for just 120 seats, with the four-year course priced at ₹22.73 lakh. Admission was based on scores achieved by students in the written exam–the Integrated Programme in Management Aptitude Test (IPMAT)--and a personal interview.
IIM Kozhikode also received a great response from the students. IIM Kozhikode director Prof Debashis Chatterjee said the response to the new BMS course has been “extremely encouraging,” with over 8,000 applications for 120 seats.
However, “the transition will initially be a little tough for some of the faculty who have never taught undergraduates before,” said a professor, adding “but after a year, the faculty will easily be able to adjust to the challenges of the UG programme.”
IIML will also have to decide whether to start the course at its Lucknow campus or its Noida campus.
IIML officials further said the launch of UG courses reflects the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020’s push for flexible learning and is guided by academic goals rather than finances.
