NMIMS Taps Coursera to Embed AI in Every Degree for 40,000 Students

SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies will fold Coursera’s AI, machine learning, data analytics and digital transformation courses into every degree it offers, beginning this academic year. The university announced the programme, called NMIMS Horizon, on June 29, deploying roughly 40,000 Coursera licences across its eight campuses. NMIMS is fully funding the licences so students pay nothing extra for the global certificates that come with completion.

The launch makes NMIMS one of the largest Indian universities to mandate a global online learning platform as a credited part of the degree itself, rather than an optional add-on. It also lands inside a broader, India-wide pivot toward AI in higher education that began before this announcement. Coursera’s own data puts India at the top of global enthusiasm for AI in classrooms, and a national mandate makes computational thinking compulsory from Class 3 in the 2026-27 academic year. NMIMS Horizon is one expression of that shift, paid for by the institution rather than by students or government.

What’s in the NMIMS Horizon Bundle

The launch event took place at the NMIMS School of Business Management in Mumbai on June 29, in collaboration with Coursera. Students from management, commerce, engineering, pharmacy and science streams will access a curated set of Coursera learning pathways rather than the platform’s full catalogue, according to NMIMS’s own announcement of Horizon. Each pathway is mapped to a specific academic programme so the courses complement, rather than duplicate, the existing curriculum. Faculty at NMIMS have been trained and certified by Coursera to mentor students through the pathways.

Unlike a typical Coursera learner, an NMIMS student will not self-direct the courses alone. The initiative is described as faculty-guided, assessment-linked and programme-specific in NMIMS’s announcement. Successful learners receive globally recognised certificates from leading universities and industry partners on the Coursera platform.

The role of universities today extends far beyond imparting knowledge. It is about preparing students for a world where Artificial Intelligence, technology, and data will influence every profession and every industry.

The launch event at the NMIMS School of Business Management featured Chandrima Sikdar, the university’s Dean of Academics and Learning Experience, framing the rationale. Sikdar described NMIMS Horizon as a step toward preparing students for a world where AI, technology and data will influence every profession. The pathways are credit-bearing and tied to internal assessments. Each course comes with a globally recognised certificate from a Coursera-partnered university or industry player.

The five subject buckets in the NMIMS Horizon bundle:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Machine Learning
• Data Analytics
• Digital Transformation
• Emerging Technologies

A ₹9 Crore Bill Footed by the University Itself

NMIMS has invested nearly Rs 9 crore to launch NMIMS Horizon, according to a Free Press Journal press release. The figure covers roughly 40,000 Coursera licences that the university has purchased upfront. The university is fully funding the licences, so students do not pay any additional fees to access the courses or the certificates.

The economics matter because Coursera’s professional certificates and specialisations are otherwise sold individually. Coursera’s broader catalogue runs from short courses to multi-course specialisations to full degrees, with prices set per course. By buying 40,000 seats in one block, NMIMS has converted a per-student expense into a flat institutional commitment. Coursera’s enterprise team has used this structure before with Indian institutions, including an AI Immersion Summit at Chandigarh University in April.

The investment also covers the faculty training and certification needed to mentor students. NMIMS has not disclosed how the Rs 9 crore is split between Coursera licences and the in-house capacity build-out.

The model mirrors a pattern emerging across Indian higher education as platforms like Coursera and edtech players seek institutional customers, not just individual learners. The shift from consumer subscriptions to enterprise contracts is one of the most consequential moves in the online learning market this decade. For NMIMS, it removes the biggest barrier that kept online certificates parked outside the formal curriculum: the cost paid by the student. For Coursera, it locks in a marquee Indian customer at scale. The figure that has not yet been published is what those graduates go on to earn.

Mandatory, Faculty-Led, Counted for Credit

The most unusual feature of NMIMS Horizon is that it is mandatory. NMIMS describes the Coursera pathways as forming a mandatory component of the student learning experience, integrated into the academic curriculum rather than offered alongside it. This is not the first time an Indian university has bundled a global MOOC into a degree; IITs and IIMs have long offered Coursera courses as electives. The difference is the compulsory framing and the credit attached.

The future workforce will be defined not only by what individuals know, but by how quickly they can learn, adapt, and collaborate with emerging technologies.

Sharad Mhaiskar, NMIMS’s Provost of Administration, made a parallel case at the Mumbai launch on June 29. He argued that universities have a responsibility to evolve ahead of industry needs. NMIMS’s official publication carries both statements in full.

The mandatory framing is unusual in global terms as well. Coursera’s 2026 AI in Higher Education report, summarised in the 2026 AI in Higher Education survey results, found that 95% of students and educators surveyed across five countries use AI tools, but only 28% of educators said their own university has incorporated AI literacy into the curriculum. Mandatory, credit-bearing AI coursework remains the exception rather than the rule even in countries that have moved faster than India on AI adoption. NMIMS Horizon sits in that small minority.

The mechanism for that integration is what NMIMS calls faculty-guided, assessment-linked, programme-specific design. Faculty members at NMIMS have been certified to mentor students through the pathways. Internal assessments are attached to each course, so students cannot pass by skipping the work. The certificates earned on Coursera count as globally recognised credentials from leading universities and industry partners on the platform. The structure addresses a long-standing criticism of online certificates: that without academic accountability, they measure effort more than mastery.

The mandatory framing is a deliberate departure from the typical Indian pattern of optional MOOC electives. Coursera’s own research flags academic integrity concerns and reduced human interaction as the top worries among university leaders globally. NMIMS has not yet published graduate outcome data tied to the programme. The university says outcomes will be tracked through the internal assessments built into each pathway.

Where Horizon Sits in India’s Wider AI Pivot

NMIMS Horizon is not happening in isolation. India’s Department of School Education and Literacy decided on October 29, 2025 that Artificial Intelligence and Computational Thinking will become mandatory subjects from Class 3 onwards, starting with the 2026-27 academic year, according to India’s mandatory Class 3 AI curriculum rollout. The mandate will eventually cover roughly 1.5 million schools and reach 8.5 million teachers.

Higher education has moved on a parallel track. Coursera’s 2026 AI in Higher Education report, drawn from a survey of 4,200 university educators and students across five countries, found that 87% of Indian respondents view AI positively, against 39% globally who believe AI will prepare them for future employment. Indian institutions are also pioneering AI-driven course creation, with over 58% of Coursera’s Course Builder usage coming from Indian partners, per the 2026 strategic guidance for university leaders on AI. India is Coursera’s biggest market for GenAI enrolments globally. The NMIMS deployment sits on top of those baselines.

NMIMS already had AI subject matter inside individual schools before Horizon launched. Horizon layers Coursera’s learning pathways onto management, commerce, engineering, pharmacy and science streams at once. NMIMS describes the initiative as complementing existing academic programmes. The mandatory, university-wide framing is the new piece, not the AI subject matter itself.

Half of Educators Say Their Institutions Aren’t Ready

The same Coursera report that shows India leading in AI enthusiasm also shows the readiness gap. Only 26% of faculty respondents globally said their institution has a formal policy governing AI use. Only 28% said their own university is ready to manage students’ use of AI. The numbers are starker than the headline enthusiasm suggests.

The Coursera survey of 4,200 university faculty and students across five countries found that 52% of educators believe the higher education system in their country is unprepared to handle AI. The same survey reports that 81% of students and educators say AI is positively influencing higher education. NMIMS has not disclosed whether Horizon includes a formal AI-use policy for students using AI tools in their coursework. The launch announcement describes faculty guidance and assessments, not student AI-use rules.

Personal skills gaps add to the institutional one. Only 25% of faculty globally believe they and their peers have the right skills to use AI to their advantage, according to the Coursera survey. NMIMS says its faculty have been trained and certified to mentor students through the pathways, which addresses the in-house gap.

Reduced human interaction, academic integrity risks and privacy concerns were cited as the top three worries by 37%, 37% and 35% of respondents respectively in the Coursera survey. NMIMS has positioned the mandatory, faculty-guided model as a way to handle those worries directly. The launch announcement did not detail how the assessments and the mentoring will operate in practice. The launch also did not name the specific Coursera courses that will appear in the bundle. NMIMS has said only that the pathways are “curated” for each programme.

Coursera’s Other India Bets Compared

NMIMS Horizon is one of several large Coursera-anchored AI plays in Indian higher education this year. Chandigarh University hosted a Coursera AI Immersion Summit on April 15, 2026. Coursera’s enterprise arm counted 210 university partners and more than 770 Coursera for Campus customers globally as of the June 2026 report. India, the report notes, drives over 58% of Coursera’s Course Builder usage worldwide. NMIMS describes Horizon as one of the largest university-wide AI and future skills learning initiatives in Indian higher education.

The difference between NMIMS Horizon and most of the rest is the mandatory framing. Chandigarh University’s summit was an event, not a degree requirement. Most Indian university partnerships with Coursera offer courses as electives or short programmes, not as a cross-university mandate. NMIMS Horizon folds Coursera content into every degree it offers, from B Tech to MBA, with faculty guidance and graded assessments.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is NMIMS Horizon?

NMIMS Horizon is SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies’ university-wide initiative, launched in collaboration with Coursera on June 29, 2026. It gives roughly 40,000 students across NMIMS’s campuses access to Coursera courses in five subject buckets: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Digital Transformation and Emerging Technologies. The pathways are integrated into the degree curriculum as a mandatory component rather than an elective add-on. NMIMS is fully funding the programme at a cost of nearly Rs 9 crore, according to a Free Press Journal press release. The university describes Horizon as one of the largest university-wide AI and future skills learning initiatives in Indian higher education.

Is NMIMS Horizon free for students?

Yes. The university has fully funded more than 40,000 Coursera licences, so students do not pay any additional fees to access the courses or earn the certificates. The total investment is nearly Rs 9 crore. The programme is mandatory rather than elective, so every NMIMS student in the covered streams is automatically enrolled.

Which Coursera courses are included?

The launch announcement does not name the specific courses in the bundle. It identifies five subject buckets: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Digital Transformation and Emerging Technologies. NMIMS faculty have been certified to mentor students through the pathways.

How is NMIMS Horizon different from other Coursera partnerships in India?

Most Indian university partnerships with Coursera offer courses as electives or short programmes, not as a cross-university mandate. NMIMS Horizon folds Coursera content into every degree it offers, from B Tech to MBA. Coursera describes NMIMS Horizon as one of the largest university-wide AI and future skills learning initiatives in Indian higher education, with roughly 40,000 students covered.