Chinese citizens are taking the GMAT exam in record numbers, making China second only to the United States in terms of overall test takers, the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), which owns the GMAT, reported this month.
For the testing year ending June 30, 2010, Chinese students took a total of 30,264 GMAT exams, up from 23,550 last year and almost double the number of tests taken in 2006.
“The continuing year-on-year double digit growth of GMAT test takers in China reflects the increasing appetite of young professionals in this market for quality graduate management education to better equip them for positions in the domestic market’s public and burgeoning private sectors,” said GMAC Asia Pacific Regional Director Julia Herries in a statement reporting the findings of GMAC’s new Asian Geographic Trend Report. Herries noted that China’s rapid ascendancy as an economic power – with an economic growth rate exceeding 9 percent in recent years – brings with it a need for talented management professionals to steer its development course.
China’s citizens aren’t the only ones showing increasing interest in business school, GMAC reported. In the Asian region overall, GMAT testing has risen each of the past five years and is up 58 percent since the testing year 2006.
India is the second-largest testing group in Asia and the third largest worldwide, and India is also the top Asian study destination among Asian citizens. In testing year 2010, 17,624 scores were sent to India by Asian citizens. “That figure is up 145 percent from 2006 and is largely driven by strong interest among Indian citizens wanting to study at home,” said GMAC South Asia Regional Director Ashish Bhardwaj, who manages GMAC’s new office in Gurgaon, outside New Delhi.
Over the past five years, the number of test scores sent to Asian schools by Asian test takers has more than doubled, from 19,695 to 42,617, GMAC reports. While Chinese citizens are still sending a greater proportion of their score reports to U.S. schools, citizens in the rest of Asia are sending an increasing share of score reports to Asian and Western European schools. Overall, the proportion of scores sent to US schools by all Asian examinees declined from 75 percent in 2006 to 68 percent in 2010.
For the complete Asian Geographic Trend Report, click here.
Read the full article: China Second Only to U.S. in GMAT Test Taking Volume