Growing demand for Executive MBA, Online MBA indicates shift in popular trend

In a recently conducted survey, it has been revealed that full-time one-year MBA, executive MBA, and online MBA programs have edged out the traditional full-time two-year program in terms of application growth worldwide.

A global survey report, released by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) indicates, European programs across the board, plus full-time one-year MBA, executive MBA, and online MBA programs appear to be experiencing stronger application growth, whereas full-time two-year, part-time, and flexible MBA programs worldwide are indicating declines this year.

“Business degrees continue to be one of the most sought-after educational credentials,” said Sangeet Chowfla, president and CEO of GMAC. “With the creation of more tailored business programs such as the Master in Data Analytics, the demand for entrance into business school is spreading across a growing supply of programs. With the competitive landscape changing, applicants have more options from which to choose, creating a mixed picture for business schools today.”

Nearly half (49 percent) of all graduate business programs received more applications in 2016 compared with 2015, said the survey report conducted from early June to mid-July 2016.

46 percent of U.S. programs and 41 percent of programs in East and Southeast Asia grew their application volumes.

Further, European full-time one-year MBA programs stand out in this year’s findings — nearly 3 in 4 (74 percent) programs report year-on-year increases. Similarly, nearly half of U.S.-based programs (43 percent) and programs in East and Southeast Asia (45 percent) report volume growth in the full-time one-year MBA market.

Other programs, Executive MBA, online MBA, Master of Finance and the Master in Data Analytics also showed application gains over the year.

For the first time since 2008, a majority (51 percent) of executive MBA programs reported growing volumes, 8 percentage points higher than programs that reported growing volumes in 2015.

57 percent of online MBA programs, for the second consecutive year, reported growing application volumes, up from 50 percent of programs that reported volume growth last year.

Also for the second year in a row, a majority of Master of Finance programs reported growing volumes. More than half of the European (65 percent) and U.S.-based programs (55 percent) reported growth this year.

Meanwhile, Master in Data Analytics, one of the newest programs in the graduate management education space, continued to see growing demand. Nearly all (94 percent) of the 16 data analytics programs that submitted data comparing 2015 with this year report application volume growth in 2016.  

After three years of slowing growth, the Master in Management program remained steady in 2016 with a majority (51 percent) of programs reporting growing application volumes. More European programs (58 percent) report growth compared with half (50 percent) of U.S.-based programs.

However, for the first time since 2012, 43 percent of full-time two-year MBA programs experienced year-on-year application growth this year. This is the second straight year that the share of programs reporting growth is down from a high of 61 percent in 2014.

This year, just 43 percent of part-time MBA programs and 44 percent of flexible MBA programs reported application volume growth. 

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