Poets&Quants | GMAC Survey: B-School Candidates Want Equity & Inclusion Programs

DEI has become a political bogeyman, under attack by conservatives in and out of governments across the United States. But in graduate business education, equity and inclusion programs are essential to the student experience of a huge majority of prospective students — and most won’t even consider applying to B-schools that don’t have them.

That’s one of the top takeaways from the Graduate Management Admission Council’s 2024 Prospective Students Survey released today (March 26). More than two-thirds of graduate business education candidate respondents to GMAC’s survey said they consider equity and inclusion to be important or very important to their academic experience — and more pointedly, more than half said they wouldn’t consider a school that fails to prioritize them.

For admission officers at business schools, now operating under a Supreme Court ban on affirmative action and many state initiatives restricting preferential treatment for women and under-represented minorities, the report increasingly shows the conflicting demands being placed on admission chiefs. Deans and faculty put pressure on admissions to craft diverse classes, and now comes evidence that applicants want the same. But legal constraints and increased harassment from conservative stakeholders make it ever more difficult to achieve diversity.

The survey paints a vivid picture of today’s prospective B-school student. Diversity is not his or her only prerequisite: Sustainability is also an essential component. More than two-thirds of respondents affirmed that it was important to them to attend a school that actively supports and incorporates sustainability in the academic experience; and more than three-quarters of candidates said that well-being efforts — focused on things like eliminating poverty and hunger — are likewise crucial to their academic experience.

And in the classroom, no surprise: Candidate demand for AI grew 38% year-over-year, with two-fifths now saying it is essential to a B-school’s curriculum.

GMAC Survey: B-School Candidates Want Equity & Inclusion Programs — Overwhelmingly

Source: GMAC

68% SAY EQUITY & INCLUSION ARE IMPORTANT; 57% WON’T APPLY TO A SCHOOL WHERE THEY AREN’T PRIORITIZED

“The 2024 survey of prospective students reveals that candidates expect graduate business education to help equip them to advance social impact as a component of their professional and personal goals,” Joy Jones, CEO of GMAC, says in a statement accompanying the release of the report. “Their strong desire to build evergreen skills like leadership in an uncertain world, data-driven problem-solving, and effective technology and human capital management persists, even though their preferences for delivery formats and study destinations may shift.”

For this year’s report, GMAC surveyed 4,105 respondents from 132 countries, representing six global citizenship regions. A majority — 57% — were male, while 42% were female, and 1% nonbinary. Central and South Asia was the most-represented region, with 28% of respondents, followed by Africa (23%), the United States (17%), East and Southeast Asia (16%), and Western Europe (7%).

Regionally, African and Asian candidates were more likely to cite the importance of equity and inclusion, while those in Western Europe and Canada were the least likely (see chart above). Overall, 68% said equity and inclusion are important or very important; among those, 57% said they would not consider attending a school that does not prioritize them. The candidates most likely to say that’s a dealbreaker: those from Canada, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East who view equity and inclusion as important or very important. In the United States, where DEI efforts have been widely politicized and dismantled in some public institutions, support for equity and inclusion has been weakened: 44% of underrepresented populations in the U.S. agreed equity and inclusion are very important to their academic experience, compared to 33% of non-underrepresented U.S. candidates.

Consistent with previous year GMAC Prospective Student Surveys, women prospects showed themselves to be more socially conscious than men: 81% of women said equity and inclusion are important or very important to their academic experience compared to 61% of men. But there is no gender difference in those who said they would not consider a school because of its prioritization of equity and inclusion.

Source: GMAC

SUSTAINABILITY & WELL-BEING ARE MAJOR PRIORITIES

Sustainability continues to be a priority for candidates for graduate business education, with 68% saying it is important; more than one-third of these sustainability-concerned candidates — 36% — said they would not consider a school that does not prioritize it. As with equity and inclusion, candidates in Africa and Asia were more likely to cite the importance of sustainability compared to respondents from other regions.

And even greater percentage of respondents — 76% — said well-being efforts focused on things like eliminating poverty and hunger are important to their academic experience, but only 41% of those candidates said they would not consider a school that does not prioritize well-being. More women (42%) said health and well-being are very important to their academic experience compared to men (33%), but there was not a significant gender difference in the share of candidates who would not consider a school that does not prioritize health and well-being. There were also no differences by generation, first-generation status, or U.S. racial/ethnic identity.

“I am encouraged by how today’s candidate is aspiring and adapting to meet new global challenges in the forever-evolving business environment and really owning their career trajectory,” GMAC’s Joy Jones says. “It is creating enormous opportunities for business schools to satisfy the ever-changing demands of candidates and industry with a wide variety of degree offerings and course flexibility.”

Source: GMAC

PREFERENCE FOR HYBRID PROGRAMS GROWS

The potential of generative artificial intelligence continues to grow and drive interest among B-school candidates. Their demand for AI grew 38% year-over-year, with two-fifths now saying it is essential to a school’s curriculum. Interest was the highest among those from the Middle East and Latin America, and among millennials and men. Relatedly, global interest in STEM-certified business programs also grew 38% in five years and to new heights in Asia, driven by demand in India and Greater China.

According to GMAC: “Candidate interest in artificial intelligence has exploded in the last year, with double-digit, statistically significant growth in the share of candidates from East and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States who say AI is essential to their graduate management education curricula. This expanding interest in AI is part of a growing preference for programs that offer coursework at the intersection of business and STEM. More than half  of candidates from India and Greater China now prefer STEM-certified GME programs, especially those who may be looking to take advantage of more generous optional practical (OPT) training opportunities for STEM students in the United States. However, business schools must watch for new gender gaps emerging in candidates’ AI and STEM interests, especially as women are working against the social and economic systems that drive them into certain educational paths and consequent career outcomes.”

In addition to an embrace of AI and STEM, GMAC found that candidates’ preference for hybrid programs is growing. The cause: Demand for in-person programs is shrinking while interest in online programs stays stable. Yet in-person learning is still preferred — and candidates interested in hybrid models still value their time in the classroom. Most candidates for hybrid programs want to spend half or more of their class time in-person, GMAC found.

“This year’s prospective student survey adds to a growing slate of evidence that candidates’ appetite for flexibility is increasing,” says Andrew Walker, director of research analysis and communications at GMAC and the report author. “Interest in hybrid learning has grown across regions and demographic types as hybrid workplaces have also increasingly become available and expected by prospective employees. While in-person learning remains the most preferred delivery format among most candidates, its dominance among candidates is diminishing.”