Graduate management education applications rise in 2025 as Asia gains momentum and traditional markets decline

MUMBAI: Graduate management education (GME) programmes worldwide recorded a 7% rise in applications in 2025, extending last year’s record-breaking surge, according to the latest Application Trends Survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).

Yet, the boom is uneven, signalling deep shifts in where and how future business leaders choose to study. While Asia and continental Europe are on an upswing, traditional strongholds—the US, UK, and Canada—are seeing their lustre fade. In the United States, applications slipped by a percentage point. In Canada, 84% of programmes reported declines, while two-thirds of UK schools also saw fewer applicants, victims of “tougher visa regimes, rising costs, and uncertain post-study job markets.

” Meanwhile, the East is rising. India’s applications jumped 26%, and East and Southeast Asia saw a staggering 42% growth, as business schools in these regions capitalised on “reputational gains” and “market strategies.” “The next era of business education is being reshaped by changing student and employer expectations, challenging geopolitics, and new skill demand prompted by technologies like AI,” said Joy Jones, CEO at GMAC.

“While some regions and program offerings might face serious headwinds, this year’s application growth gives strong evidence that business schools are quickly adapting to these dynamics through innovative curricula and industry-aligned experiences, positioning themselves for long-term relevance.”

As the world’s classrooms realign, one thing is clear: the MBA’s centre of gravity is slowly shifting eastward.

This year’s survey was conducted between June and August, with 1,172 programmes at 326 business schools located in 41 countries providing responses about the 2025-2026 academic year. GMAC’s 2025 survey also reveals a landscape in transition—where student preferences, corporate realities, and classroom innovation are redrawing the future of business education.

The report shows that demand is consolidating around traditional, in-person formats.

Full-time, two-year MBA courses and business master’s degrees in accounting, finance, and marketing saw the sharpest increases in applications. In contrast, Master of Business Analytics programmes continued their downward trajectory, with nearly two-thirds reporting declining applications for the second consecutive year. The appeal of executive, online, and part-time MBAs also appears to be waning. More than half of these flexible formats saw reduced demand in 2025, reversing the gains of recent years—a shift linked closely to widespread return-to-office mandates that have made remote learning less attractive to working professionals.

Meanwhile, artificial intelligence has moved from experiment to expectation in business classrooms. Only 16% of programmes now report having no AI integration, compared to 22% last year. Over half of all business schools teach AI as a tool for decision-making, business strategy, and societal impact, often through hands-on learning experiences. Another defining trend is the growing prominence of sustainability as a core component of management education.

Three in four programmes now offer opportunities to study sustainability, with MBA curricula leading the way. Student demand is clear—63% of prospective candidates said sustainability was an important factor in their studies. Regionally, Asian programmes outside of Greater China and India were the most likely to make sustainability study mandatory, while American institutions were the least.

Gender diversity, too, remains a steady theme. Women continue to represent just over 40% of global applicants—a figure that has held for more than a decade. In 2025, their share rose slightly, with women applying to MBA programmes at a faster rate than men, and their representation among business master’s applicants holding just below parity.Where applicants want to study: