Time and again, Indians are proving their capabilities in the world of global business education, and one such personality is Professor Soumitra Dutta, Oxford Said Business School’s former Dean. He is one of the few others who has found his way across leading global business schools and universities where his inputs have shaped many future leaders. We, 2026, are witnessing the sheer rise in number of Indian-origin academicians who have taken on influential leadership roles in the United States and the United Kingdom, helping shape the future of higher education. Along with Soumitra Dutta, there are few other leaders too who are now one of the most recognized faces in the field of business education on an international level.
Today, business schools have two options - either adapt and accept change that is going beyond the classroom, or look at it as a challenge that seems impossible to overcome. Looking at new approaches is a challenge, not an option as business schools across the globe are now realizing that they will continue to witness technological change and that they must adapt to it no matter what. It is only then that these educational institutions will be able to produce talent that has real-world knowledge and can easily fit in the evolving industry, rather than feeling like an outsider. Soumitra Dutta and a few other academic leaders are the kind of personalities institutions now are looking for who come with an international experience and expertise, unlike those with very little exposure to the modern world.
Making India Proud Through Global Recognition
India is a land of scholastic minds, and like Soumitra Dutta ( former dean, Cornell University), several other Indian scholars are slowly gaining recognition as they too have built their professional career through exposure across borders in the field of business education. Take, for example, Goa-born Paul Almeida, who currently dons not one but two titles to his name. Mr Almeida is dean and William R. Berkley Chair at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and has nearly 25 years of experience in the field of business education, most of which is overseas. Then there is H. Rao Unnava, who is currently the dean of the University of California's Graduate School of Management. Such noted personalities are definitely responsible for taking Indian education leadership at an international level and prove that there are more scholars that this nation will produce for global audiences in the near future.