India beats Harvard

The number of Asian examinees of the GMAT has increased significantly. This is the finding of the Asian trend report, which had recently been published by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). The report outlines, that Indian citizens are representing the - by far – biggest group of participants and tend to prefer Indian business schools.

n the year 2000, a total of 35,441 GMAT examinees had taken the test, in 2006, there were already 50,367 participants. India is the country, where most of the examinees come from. As in the year 2000, only 6,128 Indian citizens were taking the worldwide common Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), in 2006, there were 16,541 examinees.

With 10,142 participants, Chinese citizens represent the second biggest group. However, the increase is considerably less (8,756 examinees in the year 2000). South Korea (6,977) and Taiwan (5,401) made it to a third and fourth place with also notable gainings. Against this, the number of test-taking examinees declines in Japan, Singapore and Indonesia.

However, the figures don´t give a complete picture because the six Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore, Lucknow, and Kozhikode don´t ask for GMAT and use their own Common Admission Test (CAT). In January, 200,000 examinees had taken the test and by this, applied for one of the 1,300 places to study at the leading Indian business schools.

S still ahead
Among the ten most popular countries, Asian citizens are sending their score reports to - in order to study there, the United States are still on top with 76 percent (80 percent in 2002). Followed by Great Britain with five percent and India with four percent. As the only European country, France, with two percent, is ranking on sixth place of the top ten countries. Compared with 2002, especially India could move up in the rankings by four places.

Among all business schools, Asian GMAT participants apply for, Harvard Business School is on first place. The Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad debuted in second place, still ahead of Wharton School. With its ninth place, Insead is the best European school, still ahead of the London Business School, which holds rank nine.

The high positioning of the ISB among Asian citizens is astonishing. Especially because the business school, which was established with the support of Wharton and Kellogg, does not supply of an international accredition, yet. Moreover – like the IIMS – it does not award any MBA degree but a diploma for its Post Graduate Programs in Management (PGP).

Indian citizens tend to prefer a school in India
The ranking list of those countries Indian citizens prefer to study at, shows how strongly Indian residents have shifted their focus on their own country. Still, the United States are on top with 71 percent, leaving the others far behind, though, with a considerable decline. In 2002, still 85 percent intended to study there.

Yet, India (with nine percent) has displaced Great Britain from its second to a third place. Herein, France held its sixth place with three percent as well. Switzerland (0,7 percent) made it to place nine, ahead of Spain with 0,4 percent. In 2002, Germany still ranked on tenth place with 0,3 percent. Now, it seems to have apparently lost its attractiveness for Indian citizens as a location to study at.

The score is even more astonishing among the most popular schools for Indians. Meanwhile, the Indian School of Management has even displaced Harvard from its first place. As the best European business schools, Insead and LBS made it to place five and six.

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