Finding purpose
Dr. Atish Chattopadhyay was fresh minted MBA when he started romancing entrepreneurship, ditching the safety of a salaried job. Adding fuel to the fire of the youthful chutzpah was the initial success of his venture for quite a few years. And when his business went through a downturn, he pivoted and started teaching in B-Schools across India as a visiting faculty member to pay off debts. For a while, he managed both his enterprise and teaching assignments. However, the deviation from his chosen vocation brought him a new joy as he discovered that he loved to teach.
Not wasting any more time to pursue his newfound passion, Dr. Chattopadhyay plunged into the world of academics. He started as a Faculty Associate under the wings of Dr. V P Rao, who was then the Director of ICFAl Business School (IBS), Hyderabad. Dr. Rao motivated Dr. Chattopadhyay to enroll into a Ph.D. Program, and the rest is history!
Today, he is the Director of the Jagdish Sheth School of Management (JAGSoM) and had been the Vice Chancellor of Vijaybhoomi University from April 2020 to October 2024. He has held leadership positions at leading management institutes of India including as the Director of IMT Ghaziabad, Dean of MICA Ahmedabad, and the Deputy Director of Bhavan's SPJIMR, Mumbai. His pedagogical innovations have made a global mark by being featured in AACSB's 'Innovations That Inspire' list. The Higher Education Foundation of India recognized his 'outstanding contribution to management education' and conferred on him the first Y K Bhushan Memorial Award, in 2022.
Dr. Atish led the AACSB accreditation of Jagdish Sheth School of Management (JAGSoM) at Vijaybhoomi University. JAGSoM at Vijaybhoomi University is ranked 6th amongst the Top Emerging BBA Institutes in The Times of India Ranking Survey 2024. He also volunteers as a mentor and PRT member for AACSB and is a founding member of the EFMD Indian Business Council.
Evolving as an Educator
Dr. Atish Chattopadhyay earned his Doctorate from Aligarh Muslim University in 2005. Even though he pursued Ph.D. much later than those who started as academicians from the onset of their careers, his experience of entrepreneurship made his dissertation much richer in content and relevant to the world of business. When the dissertation was sent for acceptance to Prof. Ruby Dholakia, Professor at the University of Rhode Island, USA, it earned him a letter of appreciation for the managerial relevance. Not only that, but the dissertation also landed Dr. Chattopadhyay his first international consulting assignment from Johnson & Johnson, in Singapore.
Dr. Chattopadhyay believes that he had hit the ground running as an academician largely because he had been an entrepreneur first. He joined the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) and led the flagship two-year PGDM Program of SPJIMR for over five years. He positioned the program for 'Global Relevance & Social Sensitivity' and the program today is ranked among the top 5 MBA programs in India. Restructured the program to align the academic calendar with that of global B-Schools, including the introduction of a slot-based semester system to facilitate student exchange. Initiated the launch of 'Global Fast Track', where all 240 participants enrolled in the program undertake advance specialization courses and projects at leading business universities in the US (Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Darden, and Purdue). The program achieved Improved ranking in all the major B-School surveys during his tenure, from 19th to 5th in Business Today (since 2010) and from 12th to 3rd in Business World (since 2010). During his time at SPJIMR, Dr. Chattopadhyay increased enrolment, maintained 100% placements, expanded international student exchange, restructured curriculum, transitioned to semester system, enhanced alumni engagement, and submitted the program for AACSB accreditation.
From Teacher to Leader
From SPJIMR, Dr. Chattopadhyay moved to Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA) as the Director of the institute. At MICA, he strengthened placements and restructured the admission process to increase applicant pool by more than 100%.
His success at MICA catapulted him to lead IMT Ghaziabad. Under his leadership, IMT Ghaziabad bounced back into the top 10 B-schools in the country. His tenure saw the launch of a refreshed curriculum and new initiatives like Sustainability & Social Responsibility (SSR) and Design Thinking & Innovation. These initiatives received global accolades as IMT was featured in the 'Innovations that Inspire' list of AACSB. IMT also earned AACSB accreditation during his tenure. IMT was invited as a member institution of GMAC in December 2016. During his stint at IMT, Dr. Chattopadhyay augmented the strength of the faculty body and increased faculty involvement in teaching, research and institution building by providing an option to individual faculty members to create their own portfolio of activities aligned to individual KRA. He also facilitated collaborative working through the introduction of group incentive scheme to create a high performing work system.
From IMT Ghaziabad. Dr. Chattopadhyay moved to the IFIM Business school. He led the rechristening of IFIM Business School as JAGSoM and the institute emerged as one of the top B-Schools from India with an international profile. It was the 6th School to be accredited by AACSB and ranked in the QS World University Rankings for the Masters in Marketing, Masters in Analytics, and Masters in Finance Programs, JAGSoM also made its debut in Indian rankings being ranked amongst the top 30 B-Schools in India (Business Today-MDRA).
From the realms of India's business schools, Dr. Chattopadhyay expanded his horizons to influence higher education at large in his role as the Vice Chancellor of Vijaybhoomi University, which he positioned as India's first liberal-professional university.
Vision for Higher Education in India
"Through my experience I have learnt to appreciate what the Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts advised Alice, eons ago- here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that. So, I am on a mission to reinvent education faster than the evolving contours of our civilized world, so that our students are well-equipped to deal with the Tomorrow even with Today's education", opines Dr. Atish Chattopadhyay.
He shares his ideas and insights on higher education in India, business, management, and more with the world so that we all can collaborate in transforming education. You can find more of these in his blog.