MCLEAN, VA--(Marketwire - April 27, 2010) - Asia is the fastest-growing region in the world for the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), according to research conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).
The number of Asian citizens taking the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) per year rose 75 percent between 2005 and 2009, more than twice the global increase in GMAT testing volume over the same period. Meanwhile, the number of GMAT score reports sent each year by test takers from around the world to business schools in Asia more than tripled during the past five years, compared with a 41 percent increase in the number of score reports sent to schools worldwide.
The GMAT exam is a standardized entrance exam used by more than 4,750 MBA and other graduate management education programmes at nearly 2,000 schools around the world.
"Asia plays a leading role in the global economy, and the strong GMAT activity we are seeing is a sure sign of the high value people in this region place on quality management education," said Julia Tyler, executive vice president of member services and school marketing for GMAC, the international nonprofit association of business schools that owns the GMAT exam.
Interest in management education is particularly strong in India and China, whose citizens together accounted for nearly 70 percent of the 79,096 GMAT exams taken by Asians during testing year 2009 (July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009). Indians sat for 30,633 GMAT exams in 2009, up from 13,544 in 2005, and Chinese citizens accounted for 23,550 exams during the year, compared with 8,554 in 2005. Overall, Asians represented 30 percent of the record 265,613 GMAT exams taken globally in testing year 2009, up from a 23 percent share of the worldwide total of 200,503 in 2005.
Institutions across Asia are also attracting a growing share of GMAT score reports, suggesting that prospective students are becoming more interested in attending business school in the region. GMAT test takers directed almost 50,000 -- or about 6 percent -- of the 801,504 GMAT score reports generated in testing year 2009 to schools in Asia. By comparison, Asian schools received just 15,000 GMAT score reports in testing year 2005.
Within Asia, India drew the most GMAT score reports in 2009, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China. India and Singapore both saw the number of score reports sent to schools on their shores surge more than 300 percent during the past five years. Still, Asian citizens continue to send most of their score reports to the United States, which remains the world's most popular destination for GMAT scores. Among the top 10 Asian citizenship groups that took the GMAT in 2009, only Singaporeans sent more score reports to domestic schools than they did to U.S. schools.
More details about GMAT testing and score-sending trends among Asian citizens are in GMAC's latest Asian Geographic Trend Report for GMAT Examinees. The report is available online at www.gmac.com/geographictrends.
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 Council has 183 member schools, including 15 in Asia.
The GMAT exam was created in 1954 and is used by more than 4,750 graduate management programmes at nearly 1,900 business schools around the world to assess applicants. The GMAT exam -- the only standardized test designed expressly for graduate business and management programmes worldwide -- is currently available at approximately 500 test centers in over 110 countries. More information about the GMAT exam is available at www.mba.com.