Applications for graduate management education falls globally after two years of growth, except in Europe

After two years of growth, total applications across global graduate management education programmes have fallen 10%. However, continental Europe, East and Southeast Asia saw application growth again this year.

According to Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC)’s Application Trends Survey, published on 02/11/2026, Europe (excluding the UK) was also the only region where domestic applications rose in 2026. While this trend may be encouraging for European schools, it could also signal worsening conditions in other regions.

The survey of the global non-profit association of graduate business schools shows that traditional English-speaking hubs (the US, the UK and Canada) saw declines, with US applications down 25%. According to GMAC's analysis, these results describe a candidate pool…