NE EDUCATION BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, MAY 28
In a major push towards transforming higher education and nurturing next-generation educators, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad has launched a pioneering programme to train doctoral students in the globally acclaimed case method of learning.
The two-day residential Open Enrolment Programme (OEP), organised by the Madan Mohanka Centre of Excellence in Case Method of Learning (MMCoECML), was conducted at the IIMA campus on May 24 and 25 and brought together 73 doctoral students from premier institutions across the country.
- Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad conducts maiden case pedagogy programme for 73 doctoral students
- Two-day residential workshop fully sponsored by the Madan Mohanka Centre of Excellence in Case Method of Learning
- Programme introduces future educators to participant-centred and practice-oriented learning methods
- IIMA Director Bharat Bhasker highlights need for industry-ready and employable graduates
- Initiative aims to strengthen India’s higher education ecosystem through innovative teaching and real-world learning approaches
Titled “An Introduction to Case Pedagogy for Doctoral Students,” the fully sponsored initiative marks the maiden edition of a larger academic mission to strengthen India’s future teaching ecosystem through immersive and real-world learning methodologies.
Sponsored Vision to Build India’s Future Faculty
The programme was made possible through the support of Madan Mohanka, Chairman of Tega Industries Limited and an alumnus of IIMA’s PGP 1967 batch.
Mohanka, who established the MMCoECML at IIMA in 2025, has been championing efforts to promote excellence in case-based teaching and faculty development across India’s management education ecosystem.
The Centre aims to train educators in advanced case pedagogy while supporting case writing, research, editing and publication initiatives.
Real-World Learning for Industry-Ready Graduates
Highlighting the growing need for practical learning in higher education, Bharat Bhasker underscored the importance of equipping students with real-world problem-solving skills.
“Today in India, we have 43 million students in our education system. However, it is a challenge to prepare employable and industry-ready graduates who can immediately apply practical knowledge at their workplace. In management, a solution that worked for a particular scenario may not work for the other. This is where the case methodology comes in, as it doesn’t just teach students theories and frameworks, but also puts them through practical scenarios, from strategic boardroom discussions to identifying the problem at the operations level. This not only enhances one’s critical thinking, but also helps them prepare for the workplace, wherein new and dynamic challenges will occur daily and demand solutions,” he said.
Professor Bhasker also thanked Mohanka for supporting the initiative and strengthening the pipeline of future educators who would shape India’s academic landscape.
“Teach Students How to Think”: Madan Mohanka
Addressing the participants, Madan Mohanka stressed the transformative role of educators in modern society.
“The cornerstone of this vision was simple but profoundly ambitious: teaching the teachers, strengthening their skills, and developing the case pedagogy. All of you here are the architects of intellectual movement in the country, and your primary mission will be teaching the next generation not what to think, but how to think. Management is not a science, rather, it is a messy human practice. It takes a skilled case writer to capture the raw tensions of the real world, corporate dilemmas, and translate it into a structured form. Here, you will be writing original, high-quality cases that are rooted in context and will bring real-world dilemmas to life for your students,” he said.
IIMA Reinforces Legacy of Case-Based Learning
The workshop was led by Saral Mukherjee, Chairperson of MMCoECML, and Subhadip Roy, faculty member at IIMA.
Participants were introduced to:
- Live case demonstrations
- Case writing techniques
- Case-based classroom discussions
- Research frameworks
- Publishing methodologies in case writing
Speaking on the uniqueness of IIMA’s pedagogy, Professor Mukherjee said:
“The case method of learning has been nurtured in IIMA through decades of refinement. At its core, this pedagogy is practice-oriented, participant-centred and a gift from one generation to the next. The Madan Mohanka Centre of Excellence in Case Method of Learning has been set up in August 2025 to strengthen the case pedagogy. We are thus excited to organise the inaugural edition of an open-enrolment program for doctoral students. The two-day programme was offered free of cost to 73 doctoral students across IIMs, IITs, Central and State Universities.”
Boosting Innovation in India’s Higher Education Ecosystem
Education experts believe such initiatives could significantly reshape management and allied disciplines by making classroom learning more interactive, analytical and aligned with industry realities.
By encouraging doctoral scholars to embrace participant-centred teaching models, IIMA is positioning itself at the forefront of pedagogical innovation in India’s higher education sector.
