Sponsored Programs
Grants—The Grants Program is designed to support research projects that have the potential to make an important contribution to management education. The Institute supports primary research as well as research that uses data from GMAC surveys. Grants up to US$100,000 each are available.
Faculty Fellowships—The Faculty Fellowships Program is designed to support innovative and thought-provoking management education leaders seeking to study broader issues related to the management community. The Institute offers up to four (4) annual year-long faculty fellowships with awards up to US$50,000 each for research at the fellows' home institutions.
Doctoral Student Fellowships—The Doctoral Student Fellowships Program is designed to support promising doctoral students and beginning faculty pursuing research in areas of admissions, curriculum, career, and outcomes. The Institute offers up to four (4) annual year-long doctoral student fellowships with awards up to US$20,000 each for research at the fellows' home institutions.
About the MERInstitute
The Graduate Management Admission Council established the Management Education Research Institute in 2005 to stimulate faculty research on issues affecting graduate management education.
Through its Fellowship and Grants Program, the MERInstitute funds data-driven research related to graduate management education around the world—research that develops knowledge and innovation and identifies best practices and areas for improvement related to admissions, curriculum, career, and outcomes.
We seek research that improves educational practice. Universities and colleges constantly strive to achieve their institutional missions in the face of increasing competition and limited resources. Traditionally, most deans and other academic administrators have based decisions on their professional experiences, observations, and judgments. In the future, however, evidence-based research should play a more central role in decision-making.
With effective evidence-based decision-making, higher education administrators and faculty can more accurately identify trends, pinpoint areas that need improvement, engage in scenario-based planning and discuss fact-based decision-making options and likely outcomes. These advanced capabilities benefit an institution not only with respect to long-term planning, but also in assisting routine decision-making that—when acted upon throughout an institution—can add up to tremendous performance improvements over time.