Why non-engineering students are flocking to IIMs? Indore rides the trend with 55.24% admissions, Lucknow, Ahmedabad follow diversity trend

INDORE: Why did more nonengineering students flock to Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) this year, breaking the predominance of engineering graduates? As IIM Indore rode the trend, with 55.24% enrolment of non-engineering students, IIM Lucknow followed with 52.86%, and IIM Ahmedabad recorded 50.12% for the flagship postgraduate programme in management’s (PGP) 2025-27 batch.

Experts see this trend as a result of “conscious academic design” to navigate evolving industry requirements and to create a “diverse student body” in an effort to promote campus diversity. The trend is indicative of a “conscious academic design” aimed at addressing evolving industry requirements, as the global business environment now demands more than just technical skills. It values critical thinking, creativity, communication, and emotional intelligence — qualities often found in students from nonengineering backgrounds,” IIM Indore Director Himanshu Rai said. At IIM Indore, the representation of non-engineering students has markedly increased over the past five years. Non-engineering students constituted 55.24% in the PGP 2025-27 programme, compared to 44.76% from engineering backgrounds. This cohort included 179 female and 91 male students from diverse fields such as commerce, humanities, economics, and the arts. Previous batches had lower percentages: 41% in 2021-23, 33% in 2022-24, 39% in 2023-25, and 42% in the 2024-26 batch.

At IIM Ahmedabad, the share of non-engineers has risen from 33.5% to 50.12% over the last three years. IIM Ahmedabad director Bharat Bhasker said the institute has been working to diversify its classrooms for nearly a decade.

“We introduced academic categories in our admissions policy to ensure a diverse student body as part of the PGP admissions policy approximately ten years ago.This initiative, combined with an increase in applications from non-engineers, has led to a healthy balance in our classrooms,” Bhasker added.

At IIM Lucknow, the MBA batch 2025-27 comprises 507 students, with 268 from non-engineering disciplines. IIM Lucknow Director MP Gupta said, “Commerce-related courses have attracted the maximum number of students from non-engineering backgrounds. There is a clear market pull as non-engineering graduates strive to carve out a niche in the corporate sector.” Gupta said that there was a need for business schools to adapt to the changing corporate environment. “With modern corporations actively embracing digital transformation, our curriculum is continually updated to deliver cutting-edge education that prepares our graduates to be tech-ready,” he added.