KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Total applications to graduate business school programmes globally in 2023 dipped by approximately five per cent, according to an annual survey released by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).
In a statement, GMAC said however, more programmes than last year reported growth in their applications, indicating that the drop in applications was not felt evenly.
Specifically, the decline in applications have centered around those to more selective programmes, driving a dip in total global applications while their somewhat selective counterparts reported growth in their applications.
Many candidates are still interested in more traditional, competitive full-time programmes, but online, hybrid, or evening options were much more likely to report application growth.
Interestingly, applicants seeking out top-ranked programmes may not necessarily be looking for the same flexibility as the others, but many candidates are more willing to sacrifice prestige for flexibility.
While flexibility in delivery methods played an important role in driving the global application trends, in the United States (US), the international and domestic compositions of programme volume turned out to be the key drivers behind the growth seen among their graduate management education (GME) programmes.
However, while more than half of the programmes in the US experienced growth despite a small dip in overall applications, their counterparts in Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Islands were not as fortunate.
Most European programmes have faced declining applications over the past three years, with a significant drop (13 per cent) in total international applications in 2023. Similarly, programmes in Asia and the Pacific Islands have experienced two years of relative application declines, but with a pronounced drop (eight per cent) in total domestic applications in 2023.
Meanwhile, applications among women continue to stagnate across degree types and regions. Over the past five years, the share of female applicants in the US, Europe, Asia, the Pacific Islands, Canada and Latin America has hovered around two-fifths.
This year’s survey result, shows that 47 per cent of US programmes reported growth in applications from underrepresented US populations, rebounding by a whopping 18 percentage point from a 10-year low in 2022 and even higher than the pre-pandemic years.
GMAC’s Applications Trends Survey is the largest and most widely cited survey of its kind, serving the GME community for the past quarter of a century, collecting data on applications received by GME programmes for the 2023-2024 academic year.
-- BERNAMA
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