India, Sept. 28 -- How technology is changing the way India builds and grows

That distinction matters enormously for how Indian institutions and employers should be thinking about executive education right now. The credential question has shifted.

Five years ago, the primary question a prospective student asked was whether an online degree would be treated the same as a regular one by employers. That question hasn't disappeared, but it has been answered well enough, for accredited programmes at least, that it is no longer the deciding factor. UGC-DEB recognition, NAAC accreditation, and NIRF rankings have become table stakes rather than differentiators.

What has replaced it is a harder question: does the format build something a senior...