MBA left behind as MCA, MSc take the lead in online education in AI era

In the AI era, the MBA is being left behind as young professionals and students increasingly prioritise more science-based and specialised programmes for career growth. The shift comes at a crucial time, with experts cautiously raising questions about the relevance of an MBA degree and issuing early warnings to candidates.AI is already making noises, and what was once considered the bread and butter for professionals looking to build their careers is nudging them towards more nuanced programmes that allow them to develop the skills the industry is demanding. For over two decades, the MBA has ruled the education landscape, giving working professionals an opportunity to build their careers and climb the ladder later in their professional lives. Now, that is changing.In a recent report published by College Vidya, a platform working across India to help students and working professionals choose the right degree, MCA and MSc have emerged as the fastest-growing postgraduate programmes on its platform, leaving the MBA well behind in terms of growth.While MBA enrolments grew 10.1% year-on-year, MCA enrolments surged 61.7%, and MSc enrolments rose 60.3%.The numbers are very important because they point to a change, not necessarily in the relevance of the MBA, but in the kind of skills learners are now seeking from higher education. The data suggests that management education continues to command the largest share of online postgraduate enrolments, but technology-led and specialised programmes are expanding much faster.College Vidya's data gives a glaring boost to what the Chief Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister recently highlighted when he went on to say that the era of the MBA is over. Those words now feel more relevant against the changing enrolment pattern, particularly as professionals increasingly look towards programmes that are closer to technology and specialised skills.Rohit Gupta, founder of the platform, puts it this way, with AI at the centre of the shift: “AI is forcing professionals and students to rethink what they have traditionally treated as bread and butter. More advanced programmes, closer to science and capable of providing upskilling opportunities, are being taken into consideration. More queries are coming in for MCA and MSc programmes, signifying the importance of a changing educational landscape in the AI era.”MBA STILL LEADS, BUT ITS DOMINANCE IS NARROWINGThe report does not suggest that the MBA has suddenly disappeared from the online education market. Far from it. MBA remains the largest postgraduate programme by enrolment share. What has changed is its dominance.According to the data, the MBA's share of postgraduate enrolments fell from 73.7% to 69.6%. That is a decline of 4.1 percentage points in a year. At the same time, MCA and MSc together now account for one in five postgraduate enrolments, compared with approximately one in seven previously.That distinction is important. The market is not moving from MBA to MCA and MSc overnight. Rather, the postgraduate market itself is becoming more diversified, with technology and science programmes taking a much larger slice of the learner pool.The growth gap makes the transition even more visible. MBA enrolments grew by 10.1%, while MCA expanded by 61.7% and M.Sc by 60.3%. In other words, MCA grew at more than six times the rate of MBA, while MSc grew at almost six times the rate.POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION IS GROWING FASTER THAN UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMMESAnother signal buried in the report is that the shift is not limited to the choice of postgraduate programme. Learners appear to be showing stronger interest in postgraduate education overall.Postgraduate programmes account for 58% of total enrolments on the platform. PG enrolments grew 16.6% year-on-year, compared with 8.6% growth for undergraduate programmes.That makes the changing programme mix more consequential.As the postgraduate pool expands, the additional demand is not flowing overwhelmingly into the traditional management degree. Instead, a sizeable part of the growth is being absorbed by programmes with stronger technology and science orientation.Machine Learning and AI, meanwhile, account for 3.6% of total postgraduate enrolments. While that is still a relatively small share of the overall PG market, its presence provides another indication of how technology-related learning is finding a place inside the online higher-education ecosystem.THE LEARNER IS GETTING OLDER - AND THAT MATTERSThe report also points to a change in who is taking these degrees.The share of learners aged 25-29 increased from 20.4% in 2024 to 30.5% in 2025. At the same time, the share of learners aged 20-24 declined from 52.5% to 40.6%.The movement suggests that online postgraduate education is increasingly attracting people at a later stage of their careers rather than being dominated by learners immediately transitioning from undergraduate education.This is particularly relevant to the growth of MCA and MSc. For a working professional, an online postgraduate programme can serve a different purpose from a conventional campus degree - it can be used to acquire a new technical specialisation while remaining in the workforce.The report itself describes the shift as online degrees attracting more learners at a later career stage.“Young professionals are prioritising upskilling, and for more nuanced roles, they are opting for programmes that can help them stay competitive in their careers. Short-term programmes and upskilling courses are useful for immediate career needs, but when it comes to roles that require specialised expertise and cater to industry demands, master’s education comes into play.”And that could explain why the programme conversation is moving beyond the traditional question of “which management degree should I do?” towards “which skills will remain valuable in the next phase of my career?”THE GEOGRAPHY OF ONLINE LEARNING IS BROADENINGThe changing demand is not concentrated in a single market either.Delhi, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh together contribute 40.5% of enrolments, making them the three largest markets highlighted in the report.But the report also tracks the highest year-on-year growth among the states analysed, showing Haryana at 25.4%, West Bengal at 19% and Punjab at 12%, alongside the 40.5% figure for Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra in the state-growth visualisation.The geographical picture matters because online education was once largely discussed as a metropolitan opportunity. The emerging pattern is broader: established markets continue to account for a substantial share of enrolments, while other states are recording meaningful growth as learners increasingly use online degrees to access programmes without relocating.MEN CONTINUE TO DOMINATE PARTICIPATIONThere is, however, one area where the online postgraduate market remains sharply uneven — gender participation.The report shows that 78.7% of learners are men, while women account for 21.3% of participation.The imbalance stands out against the broader diversification visible across programmes, age groups and markets. As online higher education expands, gender participation remains an important area of opportunity, particularly if the sector is expected to become a larger route into technology, science and other specialised fields.THE BIGGER SHIFT IS FROM A DEGREE-FIRST TO A SKILLS-FIRST MARKETTaken together, the numbers tell a more nuanced story than simply declaring the end of the MBA.The MBA still commands 69.6% of postgraduate enrolments, making it by far the largest programme in the dataset. But its share has fallen from 73.7%, even as MCA and MSc have moved from roughly one in seven postgraduate enrolments to one in five.At the same time, total PG enrolments are growing at 16.6%, almost twice the 8.6% growth recorded in UG programmes.The sharper story, therefore, may not be that the MBA is “over”, but that the monopoly once enjoyed by a single postgraduate qualification is weakening.For years, the MBA functioned as the default postgraduate option for professionals looking to accelerate their careers, move into management or make a career transition.The latest enrolment data suggests learners are now becoming more selective about the technical content and employment relevance of the degree they choose.AI may be accelerating that change. As automation reshapes functions across industries, professionals are increasingly being pushed towards understanding data, computing, artificial intelligence and specialised scientific applications rather than relying solely on broad management credentials.The 61.7% growth in MCA, 60.3% growth in M.Sc, and 3.6% share already commanded by Machine Learning and AI within PG enrolments offer a snapshot of that transition.The report's larger conclusion is therefore less about one degree losing its relevance and more about Indian learners becoming increasingly purpose-driven and future-focused in their postgraduate choices - exploring management alongside technology and science, returning to education at different career stages and participating from a broader set of markets.And if the current trajectory continues, the next chapter of online higher education may not be about finding the next MBA. It may be about building a portfolio of specialised skills around it.- EndsPublished By: Rishab ChauhanPublished On: Sep 3, 2026 21:10 IST