European Gains
Where are European test takers interested in matriculating? The top five countries to which European citizens sent their GMAT® score reports are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Greece, and Spain.
However, the total number of GMAT® score reports sent to European schools in 2006 is greater than the number of score reports sent in each of the past two years. The top five European countries to which all GMAT® examinees sent their scores are the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
The Netherlands is an interesting case. The United States was the top choice for sending GMAT® scores by citizens of the Netherlands in 2002. By 2006, the top choice was the Netherlands itself, indicating that Dutch citizens are now more interested in studying closer to home.
There has also been a 25 percent increase in GMAT® volume from Greek citizens since 2002.
In Europe overall, nine countries saw an increase in the number of GMAT® tests taken from 2005 to 2006: United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Czech Republic, Armenia, and Sweden.
Asian Advances
In Asia, the number of GMAT® tests taken has increased every year since 2004.
For the first two years of this decade, Japan saw the most test takers of any Asian country. For the last four years, that distinction has belonged to India, which has seen the number of test takers more than double since 2000. Indian citizens also sent the highest average number of score reports per examinee (4.5).
Thirteen Asian countries saw an increase in examinees from 2005 to 2006, with India, China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan coming in as the top five by GMAT® volume.
Developments in India are of keen interest to business school administrators worldwide. Despite a growing applicant pool from India, the United States has lost market share from this group, and Europe has gained market share. Another key finding from the Asia data: The percentage of score reports sent to schools in India by Indian citizens more than tripled from 2002 to 2006.
The top five countries/regions to which Asian citizens sent their GMAT® scores are the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Canada, and Singapore. (Five years ago, that list was the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and France.)
Which test takers are going to school in their home country? Of the European schools, those in Greece, Portugal, and the Netherlands attracted more than a third of their domestic pool. Similarly, in Asia, schools in Singapore attracted more than one-third of their domestic pool in 2006.
More details about the Council’s data on GMAT® takers in Europe and Asia can be found in research reports available at www.gmac.com/research.
CGS Survey says…
In related data, the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) released a survey in April that showed strong growth this year in applications to U.S. graduate schools from international applicants. Applications overall were up 8 percent this year, following a 12 percent jump last year; 2004 and 2005 both saw declines in overall applications. The volume of applications from China increased 17 percent this year, following a 19 percent rise last year. Applications from India went up only 6 percent this year, after jumping 26 percent last year. More information is available at www.cgsnet.org.
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