A growing number of African nationals applying to MBA programs are choosing African and European business schools, independent research shows.
The most recent Graduate Management Admission Council’s (GMAC) World Geographic Trend Report, published in 2009 shows that South Africa, Kenya and Egypt all feature in the top ten most popular countries for African citizens to send their GMAT admission test scores to, accounting for over 10% of scores sent from the continent’s citizens.
The same report in 2005 found that the three countries received fewer than 7% of African GMAT scores. While the GMAC report makes clear that the US remains the dominant choice for African MBA applicants, receiving almost 65% of GMAT scores sent from African citizens, this dominance has deteriorated since 2005 by over 8.5%.
“The proportion of score reports that African citizens sent to US programs continued to decline: from 73% in 2005 to 65% in 2009,” GMAT states. “Increased interest in programs elsewhere, including Africa and Western Europe, helped this trend.”
European business schools increasing in popularity
Further, the QS TopMBA.com Applicant Survey 2010, which surveys prospective MBA students attending the QS World MBA Tour shows that while the US remains the most popular MBA destination for African and Middle Eastern nationals, it is closely followed by the UK. Additionally, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and The Netherlands all feature in the top ten most popular study destinations for nationals of Africa and the Middle East. “There are historical ties between Europe and certain parts of Africa. North and West Africa have very strong ties in particular, which may influence applicants’ choices,” explains Caroline Diarte Edwards, director of marketing for MBA Admissions and Financial Aid at INSEAD business school, which has campuses in both France and Singapore.
“We have seen a lot of growth [in applications] from countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.” “This year, Africa is expected to grow more than any other region in the world and this growth should increase by 5% over the next few years,” says William Dávila, international development director for Africa, Asia Pacific and the Middle East at IE Business School in Spain. “There are many investments for building infrastructure that will create the basis for further economic growth. The banking sector is becoming more sophisticated, and investment in energy and mining is increasing — and so the demand for local talent is also increasing.”
Economic growth in Africa
In fact, with The Economist listing seven African countries (Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Congo, Ghana, Zambia and Nigeria) amongst the world’s top ten fastest-growing economies in the next five years, the demand for African managerial talent that Dávila notes is only set to increase. “We have noticed that our students are becoming more interested in courses related to Africa, and there is an increasing demand for exchange programs with the region,” continues Dávila. “In terms of prospective students, the number of applications to IE has doubled [in recent years from] countries such as South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria.”
“Africa is an important market for business schools because it is a growing economy and it’s becoming such a big energy and raw materials resource for other big economies such as China,” concludes Lisa Piguet, associate director of MBA admissions and marketing at IMD business school in Switzerland, before noting how the rapid economic development on the continent also means that African nationals witnessing this economic development first hand can be huge assets to MBA programs. “Africa is changing so fast and this is something that needs to be shared in business schools. Having an African perspective can just enrich the entire classroom setting.”