The Global Diversity of Talent – Attainment and Representation

October 2021

Overview

GMAC has published a special report, a first reference guide of its kind to better understand representation for graduate management education (GME) degree attainment worldwide. Due to the disruption caused by the pandemic to educational systems across the globe and the increasing efforts being made to address the critical issues of student access, equity, diversity and representation in tertiary educational attainment, we are publishing this guide to not only to serve as an informative guide, but also as a base to target outreach and advocate for the value of graduate business degrees to underrepresented populations around the globe.

Quick Facts

  • Women worldwide remain underrepresented, particularly in Europe
  • African Americans in US business schools have higher participation proportionally than their white counterparts
  • Most business degree holders come from Asia – but Latin America represents the highest business concentration among graduate degrees

The report provides a global overview, seven regional outlooks, and separate reports for 69 locations or countries with an estimated 25,000 or more people in the student-aged population of 20 to 34 who have attained a master’s degree in the subject of business, administration, or law. In addition to a separate appendix that reviews data on 106 additional countries, it also examines the representation of women globally and underrepresented groups in the United States.

To establish the foundation of this groundbreaking effort, GMAC leveraged the latest global data resources from the US Census Bureau International Database, The World Bank, UNESCO, UNECE, and OECD, to provide a baseline for studying the state of diversity within graduate management education today. Supplemental material of country and regional descriptions as well as available 2020/2021 international rankings indices were included for present context.

GMAC recognizes that a student body that is diverse in gender, race and background can lift us all, creating a richer student experience and increasing our perspective on the issues that affect others.

Main report: Global overview, seven regional outlooks, reports for 69 countries/locations with an estimated 25,000 or more people in the student-aged population of 20-34 years who have attained a master’s degree in the subject of business, administration or law.

Supplemental report: Data on 106 additional countries; also examines the representation of women globally and underrepresented groups in the United States.