Alison Damast (see article below) flags several important reasons why an increasing number of international students are turning down elite US business schools, most notably high cost in a time of financial crisis, tightening US visa requirements, and the perception of better job prospects in China, India and other foreign countries than in the US.
Another reason why more foreign students from developing countries may be choosing to study “at home” is the increasing quality of emerging markets business schools. Unlike ten or fifteen years ago, there are now high-quality business schools in all continents. That improvement owes much to long-term capacity-building efforts by some of the top business schools. In Africa, the most under-served continent in business education, GBSN, the Global Business School Network has been working for the past five years with a number of local business schools, linking them up to a network of 34 of the world’s top schools, and organizing institutional capacity-building programs. GBSN programs have strengthened local business schools in several African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda, and is now also operating in other emerging regions. GBSN assisted in the establishment in 2005 of the Association of African Business Schools, which includes Sub-Saharan Africa’s 17 best local business schools. Besides having a cost advantage over US schools, also offer curricula that are more attuned to local markets. Few US schools are experienced in running local emerging markets firms, especially small and medium-sized companies. Thanks in large part to GBSN’s pioneering efforts, Kenyan business schools have produced over 150 teaching cases focused on issues confronted by local companies.
For examples of Kenyan cases (and more), please visit EECH and do a case search for "Kenya".| BusinessWeek "World to U.S. B-Schools: Thanks, but No Thanks" By Alison Damast March 19, 2009 |
International students, worried about future job prospects, are turning down elite U.S. business schools in favor of MBA programs in their home countries
