The number of Chinese students applying for the Graduate Management Admission Test, a globally recognized business school entrance exam, has risen for the second year in a row due to lower American visa restrictions and China's growing demand for MBAs.

 

Officials with the Graduate Management Admission Council, the US-based GMAT organizer, revealed in Shanghai yesterday that 4,076 people took the GMAT test on the Chinese mainland from last July to this June, accounting for 2.6 percent of all examinees around the world.

 

The number of Chinese mainland test takers rose about 21 percent from the same period a year ago.

 

During a speech in Shanghai yesterday, the council's president and CEO David A. Wilson told the European Foundation of Management Development that China's economic development has created demand for more qualified leaders, managers and MBA graduates. But the demand encountered a general recession due to the sluggish US economy and visa restrictions after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

 

The number of Chinese mainlanders taking the GMAT or applying for overseas MBA programs went into free fall in 2002, before bottoming out at 2,500 people in 2004.

 

Starting this year, the council has implemented a series of policies to prevent cheating worldwide to guarantee test security, Wilson said.

 

For instance, test takers were required to register with digital photos, digital finger prints and their signature before the test. Test sites will also have overhead video monitoring systems.

 

(Shanghai Daily November 29, 2006)