Demand for Business School Test Growing Outside U.S.
MCLEAN, VA--(Marketwire - March 23, 2010) - In response to the demand for the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) around the world, the number of testing centers that administer the exam has surpassed 500. This marks an increase of more than 25 percent since 2006, when Pearson VUE began administering the exam for the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), owners of the GMAT.
The GMAT exam is offered at test centers around the world on-demand throughout the year. Check-in procedures and test security measures are consistent at all GMAT test centers and feature a design that allows for optimal monitoring of all test takers.
"The need for skilled managers in a global economy is fueling the growth of quality management education programmes around the world," said Peg Jobst, executive vice president of GMAC. "Increasing access to the GMAT will provide schools with a bigger pool of candidates to choose from."
The number of GMAT test takers in 2009 reached nearly 267,000, the most in one year in the history of the exam. Beyond growing larger, the GMAT testing pool is becoming more international and increasingly diverse. Approximately 51 percent of the people who took the GMAT in the last year were non-U.S. citizens -- the first time since the exam's creation in 1954 that test takers who were citizens of nations other than the United States outnumbered Americans.
The figures show that China and India have played a particularly large role in the globalization of management education. The number of GMAT exams taken by Chinese citizens rose 35 percent in testing year 2009 compared with the year before, to 23,550; the number is up 181 percent since 2005, when it was 8,393. Tests taken by citizens of India were up 7 percent in testing year 2009, to 30,633, capping a 128 percent increase during the past five years.
The Graduate Management Admission Council (www.gmac.com) is a nonprofit education organization of leading graduate business schools worldwide dedicated to creating access to and disseminating information about graduate management education. GMAC is based in McLean, Virginia, and has a European office in London. The GMAT was created in 1954 and is used by approximately 4,750 graduate management programs at some 1,900 business schools around the world to assess applicants. The GMAT -- the only standardized test designed expressly for graduate business and management programs worldwide -- is currently available at more than 500 test centers in over 110 countries. More information about the GMAT is available at www.mba.com.