ET Bureau Africa is the next big opportunity in management education, according to Sangeet Chowfla, president and chief executive officer, GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council). "India continues to be an important area for us and one of the fastest growing areas for management education," said Chowfla, an alumnus of St Stephen's College and Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, in an interview to ET. Edited excerpts:
Which are the growth markets for GMAC?
India and China are large and significant markets for management education — both from the demand side which is candidates, but also from the supply side i.e, growth of good quality business schools. China and India are ranked at second and third spots as test-taker markets. Beyond that, Africa in some way is the next India. It will be a significant opportunity with a billion people and a market growing at 6.5%-7% . Other markets of Asia like Indonesia and ASEAN countries are also areas of opportunity.
GMAC's identity is GMAT. Is there a plan to spread out the range of services?
We provide B-schools a lot more than GMAT. These services range from helping them market their programmes, connecting them to candidates and being a source of data on candidates. We do extensive research and annual surveys. We are not an exclusive test services organisation and will continue to build around these services. GMAC is also working with consulting organisations on how integrated reasoning as part of GMAT can be used as part of the recruitment decision for the consulting firm.
How do you plan to expand in India?
2013 was a record year for GMAT in India with 30,500 test takers. A quarter of our test takers in India are women. Women are generally under-represented in B-schools across the world. In India, one in four test takers is women. There seems to be a mindset that business education follows on an engineering degree. Most female role models in India are not engineers. For instance, in banking. We need to reach out to women and plan to build platforms for them.
India is one of the most fragmented markets in terms of talent pool. We would like to play a role in bringing inoperability in Bschool testing.
In India, we have 112 B schools that accept GMAT for their programmes. We are going to expand the reach of our testing programmes. We want to offer our expertise in building tests which are predictive.
There is a view that the interest in MBAs is waning. Does that concern you?
We just published our alumni survey and 96% of business school graduates said that this was a really good investment. I agree that the cost of MBA is becoming prohibitive, but not necessarily from the return on investment point of view which involves a long-term return. The problem is affordability and cash flow. Can we bring more aid? Can we bring other ways to finance education? Management education is bigger than MBA and specialised masters programmes are a large growth area for business education.
Which are the growth markets for GMAC?
India and China are large and significant markets for management education — both from the demand side which is candidates, but also from the supply side i.e, growth of good quality business schools. China and India are ranked at second and third spots as test-taker markets. Beyond that, Africa in some way is the next India. It will be a significant opportunity with a billion people and a market growing at 6.5%-7% . Other markets of Asia like Indonesia and ASEAN countries are also areas of opportunity.
GMAC's identity is GMAT. Is there a plan to spread out the range of services?
We provide B-schools a lot more than GMAT. These services range from helping them market their programmes, connecting them to candidates and being a source of data on candidates. We do extensive research and annual surveys. We are not an exclusive test services organisation and will continue to build around these services. GMAC is also working with consulting organisations on how integrated reasoning as part of GMAT can be used as part of the recruitment decision for the consulting firm.
How do you plan to expand in India?
2013 was a record year for GMAT in India with 30,500 test takers. A quarter of our test takers in India are women. Women are generally under-represented in B-schools across the world. In India, one in four test takers is women. There seems to be a mindset that business education follows on an engineering degree. Most female role models in India are not engineers. For instance, in banking. We need to reach out to women and plan to build platforms for them.
India is one of the most fragmented markets in terms of talent pool. We would like to play a role in bringing inoperability in Bschool testing.
In India, we have 112 B schools that accept GMAT for their programmes. We are going to expand the reach of our testing programmes. We want to offer our expertise in building tests which are predictive.
There is a view that the interest in MBAs is waning. Does that concern you?
We just published our alumni survey and 96% of business school graduates said that this was a really good investment. I agree that the cost of MBA is becoming prohibitive, but not necessarily from the return on investment point of view which involves a long-term return. The problem is affordability and cash flow. Can we bring more aid? Can we bring other ways to finance education? Management education is bigger than MBA and specialised masters programmes are a large growth area for business education.
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