The Graduate Management Admission Council, in a survey, says that more than 3 in 4 of the 11,617 prospective students surveyed (86 per cent) are considering an MBA programme overseas. While the US is still a popular choice for students, recent events in the country have resulted in students preferring to study in Canada, for reasons of safety, physical security and ease of obtaining work permits, says the survey.
The report said that of the students who plan on pursuing an MBA in foreign countries, 66 per cent prefer colleges in the US, while 16 per cent prefer colleges that are in Western Europe and 8 per cent look at colleges in Canada, up from 3 per cent in 2009.
Better education systems
The cost of the education is also a big deciding factor for the students, the study notes. About half of survey respondents (55 per cent) indicated that not having enough money to pay for their education, and potentially having to take on large debts may prevent them from pursuing a graduate business degree.
The report also stated that nearly nine of ten prospective business school students (which translates to 89 per cent) intend to apply to programmes outside their country of residence, on par with previous years. The reason that is most often cited for Indian students preferring to study abroad is the reputation of the education systems in these foreign countries (68 per cent).
Work permit
67 per cent of students said that they prefered to leave the country to study so as to have improved chances of having an international career and 57 per cent added that studying in a foreign university would help them develop an international network of peers/colleagues. In addition, two in five candidates who prefer to study outside India intend to seek employment in the country where they prefer to attend school.
GMAC also reported that one-third of candidates in India were aspiring entrepreneurs (34 per cent) and a little more than one-fourth were career enhancers (27 per cent), who sought to grow in their field by developing their technical expertise.
The study also noted that the top industries that students are targeting are consulting (46 per cent of respondents), products and services (30 per cent), finance and accounting (28 per cent), and technology (28 per cent). The interest in these industries has increased since 2009, except for in the technology industry which declined slightly.