The Forgotten Power of a Bachelor’s in Arts in India By Naveen Santhosh

India, a country celebrated for its cultural depth and intellectual traditions, ironically undervalues one of the most essential foundations of national development—Arts and Humanities education. As a student and aspiring leader deeply interested in education policy and social development, I have spent time researching the true value of a Bachelor’s in Arts (BA) in India compared to global trends. What I found was a worrying imbalance and a powerful opportunity.

In this blog, I share my findings and thoughts on why India needs to rethink the value of Arts education.

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Why Arts is Undervalued in India

In most Indian families and institutions, students who pursue BA degrees in subjects like History, Political Science, Philosophy, or Sociology are rarely celebrated. Often, the Arts stream is chosen either due to academic constraints or a lack of awareness—not out of ambition. The general perception is that Arts doesn’t lead to a “professional” career.

For many BA students, their primary path is the civil services exam, particularly the IAS. But if that fails, there’s little structured guidance for career opportunities, internships, or alternate roles. There is also a lack of ecosystem that encourages and rewards excellence in the humanities. In contrast, engineering and medicine are seen as safe, prestigious, and well-funded paths with guaranteed job potential. This disparity in perception is deeply rooted in policy, culture, and institutional priorities.

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A National Obsession with STEM

India produces more than a million engineering graduates annually. We have built strong, well-funded institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for engineering and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for medicine. These institutions offer infrastructure, research support, international recognition, and structured job placements.

But when it comes to Arts, we have not created an equivalent. There is no national-level, elite institute for humanities and social sciences that carries the same weight as the IITs or AIIMS. As a result, our country lacks a systematic pipeline for producing world-class thinkers, diplomats, civil leaders, public intellectuals, and policy experts from the humanities.

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What My Research Revealed About MBA Admissions

During my research, I looked into the educational backgrounds of students admitted into India’s top MBA programs such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, and ISB Hyderabad. Across these institutes, the share of Arts graduates is surprisingly low—generally below 10% of the total class. The majority of students—over 65–75%—come from engineering backgrounds, followed by commerce and business.

This shows that students from Arts backgrounds are either not being given equal opportunity or are being systematically filtered out at the admissions stage, possibly due to the bias in entrance exams that favor quant-heavy profiles. It's not just about numbers—it’s about the kind of leadership pipeline we’re building for the country. If our future CEOs, policymakers, and social entrepreneurs are all trained to think like engineers and analysts, who will bring the human perspective, the historical context, and the philosophical clarity that Arts can provide?

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The Global Comparison: How the World Treats Arts

In countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, the story is very different. Leading universities like Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Oxford, and the London School of Economics treat humanities and social sciences as core disciplines—not as side tracks.

In fact, many global business and political leaders have emerged from Arts backgrounds. For instance, Sheryl Sandberg (former COO of Meta) studied economics at Harvard. Susan Wojcicki, former CEO of YouTube, studied history and literature. Even Ajay Banga, current President of the World Bank and former CEO of Mastercard, holds a BA in Economics. His daughter, Tara Banga, completed a BA in History from Harvard and joined PepsiCo without even pursuing an MBA.

These are just a few examples showing that the Arts pathway, when supported by the right ecosystem, can lead directly to top corporate, diplomatic, and entrepreneurial positions.

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The Case for an IIT-like Institution for Arts

One of the biggest policy ideas I propose through this report is the creation of a national-level, IIT-like institution dedicated to Arts and Humanities—a flagship institute for social science, leadership, and public policy education.

Such an institution should:

Offer world-class BA, MA, and PhD programs in History, Political Science, Sociology, Philosophy, and International Relations.

Encourage interdisciplinary research in areas like behavioral economics, governance, cultural studies, and development economics.

Collaborate with global universities such as LSE, Sciences Po, Harvard Kennedy School, and others.

Provide structured placement and internship support, just like IITs do for engineers.

Groom students for careers in diplomacy, think tanks, consulting, education policy, social impact entrepreneurship, media leadership, and global affairs.

India needs not just coders and clinicians but also critical thinkers, ethical leaders, and visionary communicators.

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What Needs to Change

For Students

Arts should no longer be viewed as a fallback or easy stream. It must be pursued with clarity, purpose, and ambition. Students should combine Arts with modern skills—such as public policy, data interpretation, communication design, or international affairs—to remain industry-ready.

For Parents

Parents must recognize that careers in Arts can lead to powerful positions in government, media, international organizations, NGOs, and even the corporate world. A student with a passion for writing, history, or politics should be supported the same way a student interested in coding or medicine would be.

For Policymakers and Institutions

The undergraduate Arts curriculum must be modernized to include industry-aligned modules, project work, internships, and applied skills. Institutions must partner with think tanks, media houses, policy labs, and startups to offer real-world experience. More importantly, we must bring the best faculty, provide research grants, and offer fellowships for Arts students—just as we do in STEM fields.

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Final Reflections

As I reflect on my findings, I realize that India’s true global leadership will not come from technology alone. It will come from how we combine our cultural depth with modern problem-solving, from how we integrate soft skills with hard data, and from how we elevate diverse streams of education to equal standing.

A Bachelor’s in Arts is not a second choice—it’s a strategic foundation for national progress. It produces individuals capable of thinking deeply, writing persuasively, leading with empathy, and solving complex human problems.

India must now make space for such minds—not just in civil services, but in boardrooms, policy councils, media rooms, and global platforms.