New Delhi: There has been a 3.4 per cent decline in total applications to graduate business schools across the world, registering a drop from pandemic-level spikes, noted a report released Tuesday.
The findings were revealed in the GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council) Application Trends Survey 2022 — conducted between July and September — with application figures submitted by 950 programmes from 264 business schools across 33 countries.
GMAC conducts Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT), scores for which are used to secure admission to business schools.
“Total applications to graduate business schools dipped from the pandemic-level spikes, slipping 3.4 per cent year-on-year among a matched sample of programmes,” read a statement released by GMAC.
The survey also noted that application volumes had increased to 2.4 per cent in 2020, at the start of the pandemic, and sustained till 2021.
The report cited “a hot hiring market and the Great Resignation” to have created “conditions in which employers are increasingly focused on retention, offering candidates who might otherwise exit the workforce to pursue degree incentives to stay”. It also said that “this appears to be putting downward pressure on domestic candidate demand for GME (Graduate Management Education)”.
The survey also added that with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, international applications saw a “rebound”, especially in the US.
“There has been a remarkable rebound, particularly for those applying to programmes in the United States. Most US programmes reported international application increases, especially full-time two-year MBA programmes and STEM-designated programmes. Similarly, in Europe, most MBA programmes either saw stability or more applications from abroad this year,” read the report.
Also read: You can start a PhD after undergrad, or even do it part-time, say new rules on doctorate study
Decline in applications to Indian B-schools
On popular destinations for MBA courses, the report said that applications to programmes in Canada saw a decline “for the first time since 2016”.
“This year, 86 per cent of programmes reported declines in total applications. Seventy five per cent of programmes reported declines in domestic applications, and 68 per cent reported declines in international applications. Among Canadian programmes that responded to each of the last two years’ surveys, total applications were down 23 per cent year-on-year,” the report noted.
The report also mentioned that there has been a 2.9 per cent decline in total applications to Indian B-schools.
“Fifty six per cent of programmes reported total application volume declines. Among programmes that responded to each of the last two years’ surveys, total applications were down 2.9 per cent, driven chiefly by a 2.9 per cent drop in domestic applications, which accounts for the vast majority of submitted applications (81 per cent),” read the report.
It added that international applications also fell by about half in 2022.
Also read: 43% students in India had no access to any schooling for 19 months during pandemic, finds study