Online courses and programs have been highly successful and has become a popular choice for students who don’t mind taking classes online. Many universities are making their classes available online even after their campus’ have opened up and live classes have returned. Due to numerous universities venturing into the online education market, it has become overflooded with amateur, below par online programs. Choosing a university to attend live is straightforward.

This year, the University of California received 249,855 applications for at least one of its campuses, a 0.5 percent increase from that of last year. The percentage of applications from underrepresented populations, among the applicants from California, increased a little by 0.4 percent from 45.1 percent to 45.5 percent. Specifically, the number of African American applicants rose by 2.8 percent (235 more applicants) while Latinx applications increased by 4.1 percent (1,989 more applicants). However, the increasing trend in application numbers is not limited to schools in California.

For the first time since 2010, the number of Chinese international students in the US have dropped. According to Statista, the number of Chinese students attending US universities dropped from 372,532 to 317,299 students. More Chinese international students left the US or graduated than the ones that enrolled to US universities in 2021.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been the first large scale invasion of an entire European country since World War 2. Due to Russia’s invasion, US and NATO nations have currently imposed massive sanctions on the Russian government. Not only are the Russians suffering a massive shortage in supplies due to the sanctions, but also are being cut off from the rest of the world. Companies and businesses in US or NATO have ceased their operations in Russia. Companies like Nvida, Disney, and even McDonalds are currently not in service in Russia.

Demand for shorter MBAs has grown to improve return on investment  Since prospective students prefer fast-track courses that concentrate on career development and pay less for their degree, MBA courses are changing to meet varying demands. The robust economy has strengthened the appeal of shorter MBA degrees, which provide a quick return on investment and allow students to make up for lost income.

Practical learning is replacing the old-fashioned way of teaching in Business Schools Recently, there is different trend throughout business schools. Courses have placed a greater focus on experiential projects, believing that people learn effectively by doing. It has been widely acknowledged that the case study approach of teaching was the most successful throughout the world in the past, with students evaluating real-world company difficulties and obstacles.

An increasing number of MBA students request new university facilities to be sustainable, collaborative and digitalized Business schools across the world have joined the competition to collect funds and build unprecedentedly grand campuses for their schools in recent years. The IE Tower, which is technologically sophisticated in the vertical form but also sustainable, was built in September 2021 by IE Business Schools located in Madrid.

Due to Covid-19 pandemic, a demand for MBA programs have greatly increased, leading to soaring GMAT -Graduate Management Admission Test- scores. For example, for the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the average score of applicants reached 738 this year, compared to 733 from last year. Also, application to Indiana University Kelley School of Business’s MBA course in 2021 has increased 61% compared to application numbers in 2020. This movement is quite different from what was happening in 2020.

Business schools originally had deep concerns about the irreversible damage the pandemic could bring to their academic field. However, the latest data tells otherwise. MBAs saw a sharp increase in application numbers, as well as higher average GMAT scores. Numerous schools have also reported that they now have a more diverse student pool with higher enrollment rates from women and minority populations. This indicates that the competition for MBA admissions has become fiercer, pushing students to go beyond what schools used to seek in an applicant.