Ahmedabad: The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has temporarily shifted students of its Dubai campus to the Ahmedabad campus after escalating tensions in West Asia disrupted travel and academic schedules, officials said.

The affected group comprises 35 students of the first batch of the one-year executive MBA programme being conducted at IIM-Ahmedabad’s Dubai campus. The students were in Spain for an international immersion module when airspace restrictions and security concerns emerged following the ongoing Iran-Israel-US conflict.

Instead of moving classes online, the institute decided to relocate the entire cohort to Ahmedabad to ensure continuity of the programme without compromising classroom interaction. Officials said the students will continue their coursework in India until the situation stabilises in the Gulf region.

Institute authorities said shifting to a fully virtual format could affect the learning experience, especially for management programmes that rely heavily on classroom discussion and peer interaction. The decision was taken jointly by the institute’s leadership and the Dubai campus administration after reviewing possible disruptions to the academic calendar.

The executive programme, launched last year at the Dubai campus, is designed for mid-career professionals and has a limited batch size, which made relocation feasible, officials said.

IIM-Ahmedabad is monitoring the situation in West Asia and will decide on resuming operations at the Dubai campus once conditions improve. Other Indian educational institutions with campuses in Dubai are also reviewing contingency plans, with some opting for online classes due to larger batch sizes. DeshGujarat