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Deloitte’s 2026 survey finds 96% of Gen Z and 93% of millennial professionals in India expressed interest in senior leadership positions, while 54% and 44% have put off major life decisions because of their finances
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Two-year, fully face-to-face weekend program is built for Madhya Pradesh’s industrial hub, where the Pithampur industrial area alone employs four to five lakh people
Indore : Prestige University Indore has launched a two-year, fully on-campus Executive MBA for working professionals. It is aimed especially at the young engineers and technical executives in Central India’s automobile, engineering and pharmaceutical plants and IT parks who want to move into management without giving up their jobs. The Executive Master’s Program (XMP) is offered by the university’s School of Management.
The program responds to a gap between ambition and means. Deloitte’s 2026 Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey, released in May, found that 96% of Gen Z and 93% of millennial respondents in India expressed interest in senior leadership positions. The same survey found that 54% of Gen Zs and 44% of millennials in India have put off major life decisions because of their finances. For a professional a few years into a technical career, giving up a salary to study full-time is often not a realistic option.
The need is visible around Indore. According to figures shared by the Madhya Pradesh government in July 2026, the Pithampur industrial area alone employs four to five lakh people, and the state received investment proposals worth more than ₹76,862 crore in the first half of 2026. The university’s premise is that as these plants expand, the engineers already on company rolls are the most direct source of new managers.
“For many mid-career executives who feel bottlenecked, bored, or burnt out, returning to campus offers rejuvenation, reflection, and renewal. Our XMP is designed as that purposeful retreat: a structured pause to rediscover direction and re-ignite ambition while continuing to contribute at work,” said Prof. Keyoor Purani, Vice Chancellor, Prestige University Indore.
XMP is taught entirely face to face, at a time when much of the management education offered to working professionals is online or hybrid. Participants spend the weekend on campus, take what they have covered back to work during the week, and return the following weekend to discuss it with faculty and peers. In the Graduate Management Admission Council’s 2026 Prospective Students Survey, Indian candidates showed the strongest preference for classroom learning of any country reported, with 91% wanting to study full-time and in person, while cost was the barrier they cited most often.
“Leadership is shaped by immersive experiences, cross-functional exposure, and peer learning. Online certifications can add skills, but they rarely offer the kind of immersion, mentoring, and reflective dialogue that our weekend, on-campus program offers to transform executives into leaders,” Prof. Purani added.
For employers, the format offers a way to develop high-potential people for a university degree while they stay in role. Aon’s Annual Salary Increase and Turnover Survey 2025-26, covering more than 1,400 organizations in India, recorded attrition of 16.2% in 2025, down from 18.7% in 2023, and noted that a steadier workforce lets employers put more into targeted upskilling and talent pipelines. Corporate sponsorship and group application benefits are available, and the university is in discussions with several organizations to nominate participants.