Design an Institutional AI Programme
Advisory for sponsors creating their own AI programme: audience needs analysis, curriculum architecture, and an evaluation framework for objectives and outcomes.
Direct answer
Direct answer: AI programme design
Some institutions do not need a speaker or a standard course; they need their own AI programme, owned and delivered by them or by several contributors. The design work comes before any session: who the audience is, what they must be able to do afterwards, what they need to know first, how the sessions build on each other, and how the institution will know whether it worked. I help sponsors specify that architecture so it can be commissioned, delivered, and evaluated.
The question
“We need to create an AI programme for our audience, not buy a standard course. How should objectives, prerequisites and outcomes be specified?”
Who it is for
Sponsors at associations, universities, public bodies, funds, and networks who are building an AI programme rather than buying one.
What you leave with
An audience needs analysis, curriculum architecture, and evaluation framework.
- 01 An audience needs analysis covering roles, capability range, obligations, and constraints
- 02 A curriculum architecture: modules, sequence, prerequisites, formats, and learning outcomes
- 03 An evaluation framework with measures of learning and application, not attendance alone
- 04 A delivery brief the institution can use to commission contributors, including Dipankar or others
How it runs
Format, method, and preparation
- Duration
- Typically two to six weeks of part-time advisory work, depending on audience complexity
- Delivery
- Remote working sessions with the programme team, plus optional in-person workshops in the UK
- Participants
- The sponsor, programme owner, and representatives of the intended audience
Define the audience and outcomes
Agree who the programme is for and what each segment must be able to do or decide afterwards.
Architect the curriculum
Sequence modules, set prerequisites, choose formats, and decide what is shared and what is role-specific.
Specify evaluation
Choose evidence of learning and application, and how the institution will review and revise the programme.
Prepare for delivery
Write the delivery brief, accessibility requirements, and contributor specifications.
Useful to have ready
- →A sponsor with authority over the programme’s scope and budget
- →Access to a representative sample of the intended audience
- →The institution’s own requirements for accessibility, procurement, and any accreditation process
Evidence
What this draws on
Startup Leadership Program, New Delhi (2011)
Fellow and Joint Program Leader of the New Delhi chapter: organising cohort sessions, bringing practitioners into the room, and helping founders examine decisions.
Read more →GenAI and Agentic AI Playbooks
21 open chapters in ten languages under Apache 2.0: a business-leader guide to GenAI adoption followed by an engineering and operating guide to agent systems.
Inspect the source ↗AI for Everyday Automation (Packt, 2026)
Seven connected workflows for email, meetings, research, reports, task tracking, spreadsheets, and professional communication, each with people kept in review.
Read more →Scope and limits
What this is not
- —The design is commissioned work for the institution; delivery can be by Dipankar, internal staff, or other contributors, and design does not oblige the sponsor to buy delivery.
- —Accreditation or CPD recognition of the resulting programme is the institution’s decision under its own process.
- —The evaluation framework measures the programme’s own outcomes; it is not an external quality-assurance review.
If the need is different
Common questions
Answers before you commission
What does an AI programme design adviser do?+
Turns a sponsor’s intention into a programme specification: audience needs, learning outcomes, curriculum sequence, prerequisites, formats, and how success will be evaluated.
How should objectives and prerequisites be specified for an AI programme?+
Objectives should describe what participants can do or decide afterwards, in their own roles. Prerequisites should state the knowledge and access each session assumes, so the institution can route people to the right starting point.
Do we have to use you to deliver the programme?+
No. The delivery brief is written so the institution can deliver internally or commission any contributor.
How is success measured?+
With evidence that participants applied what they learnt, such as artefacts, decisions, or follow-up surveys, defined before delivery starts rather than after.
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