As far as the global trend is concerned, MBA enrollment numbers are going down, especially in the US and Europe. However, the trend in Asia is turning out to be completely opposite, thanks to the meteoric rise of countries like China, Singapore, and India.
It is not only that about the students willing to pay vast sums of money for an MBA degree, but many indigenous multinational corporations also have their headquarters in Asia now. One of the biggest examples of this is Alibaba in China. Not only this, MNCs established in the US or Europe are planning to open their manufacturing centers in Asian countries.
According to the Graduate Management Admission Council(GMAC), MBA enrollment in Asian business schools has surpassed MBA enrollment in the rest of the world for two consecutive years now. Globally MBA programs have seen a downward trend of more than 3%, with the US taking a major hit in its numbers. Almost half of the business schools in Asia have reported a steep rise in their applications in 2019 itself.
Geo-politics ruining MBA enrollment in the US
One of the possible reasons for this change in the enrollment pattern can be the politics associated with the western nations, like the US President Donald Trump’s controversial statements about immigrants and foreigners. According to GMAC’s president, for the last few years, intentionally or not, the US has discouraged Asian students to come to the US for higher education.
The US-China relations have been on bad terms as of late, which might be another factor why the Chinese students would want to stay in their country for their MBAs.
Another interesting observation is that students from the West are quite interested to come to Asia for their MBA degrees. A German student, studying in Singapore explained that he feels safer to study there and the ‘future is Asia’. Asian universities have reported more diversity in their MBA enrollment, with students coming from all genders, races, and ethnicities.
This is another major issue that is being faced by Western universities. As for a fact, in May, it was reported that black students are reluctant to apply for Cambridge University as they lack the Afro-Carribean student numbers.
Yet, the most important thing that a student looks for is the future scope of employment. Growth in China might have slowed down, but it’s still on a positive rise. So is the case with India or Singapore or the other Asian countries.
Featured image from Pixabay
