CNN.com - Boom time for business schools

Getting crowded: business school applications rose strongly in 2006.

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FT's Executive MBA Rankings
1. Wharton, U.S.
2. Hong Kong UST, China
3. London Business School, UK
4. Instituto de Empresa, Spain
5. Fuqua, Duke, U.S.
6. Chicago GSB, U.S.
7. Columbia, U.S.
8. Kellogg, U.S.
9. Stern, NY, U.S.
10. Cass, City University, UK
Source: Financial Times 2006

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EMBA SNAPSHOT

Executives taking the top EMBA courses in the U.S., Europe and Asia have average salaries of around $130,000 to $200,000.

A typical EMBA student is likely to be aged in the early 30s, with 6-10 years of working experience.

A top EMBA course can cost $100,000. Customized courses start at a few thousand dollars.

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(CNN) -- Business schools around the globe have experienced a boom in applications during 2006, according to a major annual survey by the US-based Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).

Applications for part- and full-time courses, and for Executive MBAs, all rose strongly, with demand coming from both men and women, the survey of 230 programs at 147 schools, 85% of them in the U.S., showed.

"There is a brilliant bloom on the MBA rose," said David A. Wilson, president and CEO of GMAC. "The demand for seats in all types of MBA programs in countries around the world is rebounding."

Of the full-time MBA programs participating in the GMAC Application Trends Survey, two thirds saw an increase in applications during 2006, against just 21% the year before.

Part-time courses experienced similar figures: 62% saw more applications, against 46%, while for EMBAs the figures were 69% this year against 38% in 2005.

On its own, the survey doesn't prove that more students are applying to graduate business programs, as each individual could simply be trying their luck at more schools.

However, separate data says more people are registering for the Graduate Management Admission Test, or GMAT -- the standard admissions test for business school entrants, administered by GMAC -- and those who do are sending their results to fewer schools.

The new survey also picked up a rise in female applicants to MBA programs, with 64% of full-time courses, 47% of part-time and 50% of executive courses seeing an increase.

Would-be MBAs are also thinking globally: three-quarters of US programs saw a rise in applications from abroad in 2006, against just 28% last year. Among non-US schools, 62% saw a boost to international applications, up from 37%.

Counter-cyclical

Predicting business school applications can be a tricky business as it can run counter to the prevailing economic cycle.

For example, few budding entrepreneurs wanted to miss out on the late 90s dot com boom by enrolling in business school, but when that crashed, applications surged in 2002.

But according to GMAC's Wilson, the world economy is now healthily balanced and the job market for new MBAs is strong, something backed up by other data.

A separate GMAC survey in May found the average starting salary for MBA graduates had risen 4.2% to more than $92,000, while corporate recruiters report they were visiting more business school campuses.

"Our earlier research showed a significant increase in the recruiters coming to MBA programs and in the number of offers each recruiter was making," said Wilson. "The increase in applications only reinforces the conclusion that the market for MBAs is hot and getting hotter."

While the news is generally good for the U.S. schools who form the bulk of the survey, it also shows that they face ever-increasing competition from overseas.

In Europe, the percentage of GMAT test-takers sending their scores to US programs has fallen from 61% in 2001 to 47% this year.

"You're seeing significant players in Europe," Wilson said. "The same in India, China, Thailand. You're starting to see a real global marketplace out there, where people are thinking of going to schools other than in the US."

Boom time for business schools

Survey shows strong rise in 2006 applications

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Counter-cyclical