NEW DELHI: The year 2023 not only witnessed a sharp dip in India-Canada diplomatic ties but also saw the lowest number of aspirants for graduate management education (GME) travelling to the north American country, clocking a five-year low. Canada is the fourth preferred destination for Indian students looking for an international MBA degree.
According to experts, Indians are even shying away from exchange programmes in Canada, primarily due to the lack of job opportunities, and economic situation there. However, Prof Himanshu Rai, director IIM, Indore said it’s premature to make a confirmatory statement on any of the reasons.
The slide started in 2020 – the Covid year recording a decline from 14% to 11% – and it never recovered thereafter with the biggest slump recorded in 2023 (down from 10% to 6%). In contrast, destinations like the US, central and south Asia, western Europe, east and southeast Asia, and Australia, which also got affected during Covid are on the recovery path, as per the latest annual “Prospective Students Survey 2024 Report” of Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), exclusively accessed by the TOI.
As per QS Global MBA Rankings 2024, there are six B-schools from Canada which figure in the top 100, and there are four B-schools mentioned in the Financial Times Business school rankings (MBA 2024).
As per the study, as compared to 2019, there has been an eight-percentage point drop in candidate preference to study in Canada and an eight-point increase in Indian candidates’ preference to study within central and south Asia.
The report stated, “Given the survey was fielded throughout calendar year 2023, it is likely the challenges in diplomatic relations between India and Canada contributed to the most recent dip, though the year-over-year change is part of a longer decline since 2019.”
As interest of MBA aspirants in Canada wanes, Vaibhav Gupta, founder and CMO, iSchoolConnect, sees the recent diplomatic tension, high accommodation price, economic turmoil with a volatile job market, and province-wise capping on international students “becoming deterring factors.” In Canada, cost of living has gone up and economic conditions aren’t great, and employment has gone down, added Gupta.
Another aspect the report touched upon is the increasing interest in studying closer to home, as it stated, “Candidates from India now have greater interest in studying in the country and within the region, with about one-third citing that they like being closer to home.”
This is also in sync with the finding that since 2019, the share of candidates with plans to apply outside their countries of citizenship dropped from 72% to 67%. Moreover, domestic applications within India grew significantly from 41% in 2022 to 53% in 2023.
The report sees this as an outcome of increased “educational and economic opportunities” in the subcontinent, as Indians pursuing an international GME in central and south Asia increased from 18% in 2019 to 26% in 2023, without a dip even during Covid.
The US remains the top destination for candidates globally and it was 38% of Indian candidates preferred destination, as Gupta says, “it has a big appetite with 4,000 plus universities”. Central and south Asia are the second preferred destination with 26%, followed by western Europe for 24% Indian aspirants.