Two of Europe’s leading voices in management education, Professor Stefano Caselli of SDA Bocconi and Michael Nowlis of Imperial Business School, sit down with Daily News Hungary to discuss what artificial intelligence is doing to the purpose of the MBA, the capabilities tomorrow’s leaders will need, and how European schools can turn responsibility into a global advantage. Both will be in Budapest later this month for the QS Higher Education Summit: Europe 2026 (24–25 June).
Few questions feel more urgent in higher education right now than what business schools are actually for once machines can analyse data faster than any graduate. We put a shared set of themes to two figures shaping the answer from different sides of the Continent: Stefano Caselli, Dean of SDA Bocconi in Milan, and Michael Nowlis, Programme Director for MBA Programmes at Imperial Business School in London. Their answers, set side by side below, reveal a striking convergence: as the technology advances, both believe the human dimension of leadership matters more, not less.
Is AI changing what business education is actually for?
Stefano Caselli, SDA Bocconi: AI is not simply adding a new technological layer to business education; it is reshaping the very context in which managers and leaders make decisions. Our mission is no longer only to transfer knowledge or analytical tools, but to help people exercise judgement in environments where information is abundant, decisions are faster, and uncertainty is structurally higher. We see AI as a powerful accelerator of transformation, but not as a substitute for leadership. It can improve productivity, prediction, personalisation and decision-making, yet it also raises profound questions about accountability, governance, ethics, inclusion and the future of work. This is precisely why business education must become more human-centred. The more technology advances, the more important it becomes to educate leaders who can combine data and intuition, innovation and responsibility, efficiency and impact. AI reinforces rather than diminishes our role: we must help future leaders ask better questions, not only produce faster answers.
Michael Nowlis, Imperial Business School: Leading schools are no longer treating AI as just another elective or technical specialisation; they are redesigning the MBA around the assumption that AI is fundamentally reshaping business, leadership and management itself. The traditional degree was built around teaching students to analyse information and decide under uncertainty, and AI changes that profoundly, because machines can now do much of the analytical work faster and often more accurately than humans. At Imperial, AI is becoming foundational infrastructure rather than a standalone subject, integrated across finance, strategy, operations, marketing, entrepreneurship, organisational behaviour and leadership. We are putting more weight on systems thinking, interdisciplinary collaboration and experiential learning that asks students to navigate complexity rather than memorise frameworks. It is also transforming delivery: the lines between full-time, executive, online and lifelong learning are blurring, with personalised pathways, adaptive tutoring, intelligent feedback and AI learning companions. Schools that fail to embrace this risk becoming providers of expensive static content in a world where information itself is being commoditised.
Beyond technical literacy, what skills and mindsets will define successful leaders?
Caselli: Future leaders will need to be fluent in AI, but fluency does not mean becoming a technical specialist. It means understanding how AI works, what it can and cannot do, how it changes business models and markets, and how to govern its risks. I would prioritise four capabilities. First, critical thinking: leaders must challenge data, interpret models, recognise biases and understand the limits of algorithmic decisions. Second, responsible innovation: AI must create value while protecting trust, fairness and transparency. Third, organisational transformation: leaders need to redesign processes, roles and cultures, not simply adopt new tools. Fourth, lifelong learning, because the pace of change makes adaptability a core competence. But one mindset matters even more: openness combined with responsibility. The leaders we educate must be curious about technology, ambitious in using it, and at the same time deeply aware of its consequences for people, companies and society.
Nowlis: Those who thrive are not necessarily the best coders or data scientists; they are leaders who integrate technology, psychology, ethics, organisational behaviour, strategy and human meaning into coherent leadership. AI can help generate answers, but leaders still have to decide which questions matter, which trade-offs are acceptable, how success is defined and what risks are tolerable. Emotional intelligence becomes central: building trust, navigating anxiety, motivating teams and helping people tolerate uncertainty and reinvention. Ethical reasoning is increasingly central too, because AI raises hard questions of bias, accountability, transparency, labour displacement and surveillance, often colliding all at once. Across our MBA portfolio we deliberately develop self-awareness, resilience, ethical judgment, empathy and communication under uncertainty through initiatives like our Executive and Personal Leadership Journeys, Values Day and the LEADS programme. And the most successful executives now share a flexible mindset, humility and a genuine willingness to keep learning, because they increasingly oversee hybrid systems of AI analysts, autonomous workflows and human teams at the same time.
What role should European business schools play, and how do they stay competitive?
Caselli: European business schools have a distinctive opportunity. We operate where competitiveness, innovation and responsibility are not seen as alternatives but as dimensions that reinforce one another, and that can become a real global advantage in the age of AI. To stay competitive, European schools must invest decisively in research, faculty development, digital learning environments, partnerships with companies and institutions, and the integration of AI across all programmes, not as a separate elective but woven through finance, strategy, marketing, operations and leadership. Europe can also contribute something important to the global debate: a model of AI adoption grounded in governance, ethics, sustainability and social impact. Companies everywhere are asking not only how to use AI, but how to use it well. The challenge is not to imitate other models, but to bring a European voice that is ambitious, innovative and credible. Competitiveness will belong to the institutions that can educate leaders able to manage complexity with both intelligence and conscience.
Nowlis: To stay relevant, schools need to become more ambitious. The historical model of focusing narrowly on finance, operations and strategy is no longer sufficient on its own; the AI era demands professionals who can help organisations redesign themselves responsibly, ethically and humanely. One of the biggest challenges businesses face is that technologists understand AI but have limited experience of how organisations actually run, while business leaders understand management but know less about AI. Schools are uniquely placed to bridge that divide. At Imperial we are exploring a convergence-science approach that brings together engineering, computing, medicine, sustainability, entrepreneurship and public policy, alongside AI governance simulations and human-AI workplace design. We also have a responsibility to defend the human dimension of leadership, because there is a real danger that AI adoption becomes excessively efficiency-driven and technologically deterministic. The deeper questions remain: what kind of organisations should we build, what role should humans continue to play, and how do we preserve trust, dignity, creativity and meaning? That, ultimately, is the future of management education in the age of AI.
Professor Caselli and Michael Nowlis will both take part in the QS Higher Education Summit: Europe 2026 in Budapest on 24–25 June, where the future of European higher education will be the central conversation.
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