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Global survey defines pandemic-induced shifts in MBA and Business Master’s degrees

RESTON, Va., April 20 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —  The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), a global association of leading graduate business schools, today released its GMAC Prospective Students Survey – 2022 Summary Report, which explores how candidate preferences have shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report was based on survey responses from more than 6,500 individuals worldwide who expressed interest in graduate business education in 2021. While cost remains a primary concern in today’s dynamic economy with brisk job market and rising inflation, candidates from around the globe continue to perceive graduate management education as a tried-and-true pathway to advance professionally and position themselves to achieve their goals, consistent with pre-pandemic levels. Globally, 4 out of 5 candidates stated that a graduate business degree allows them to stand out at work. Similarly, the full-time MBA program continues to be the most popular program option, with 1 out of 4 of all candidates preferring the two-year full-time format and another 1 in 5 preferring the one-year full time format.

“While the pandemic has altered aspects of the graduate management education landscape, the fundamental perceptions of the value of graduate management education generally and the MBA specifically continue to stay strong,” said Sangeet Chowfla, president and CEO of GMAC. “While there continue to be evolutions in candidates’ preferred study destinations, delivery formats, career paths and perceptions of admissions testing policies, if there were ever any concerns that the pandemic and its effects would diminish business school aspirants’ perceptions of the value of a degree, the latest GMAC findings of the Prospective Students Survey should help put them to rest.”

Other Key Findings

More candidates prefer to study closer to home while the U.S. and Europe intensify their competition for international candidates

More candidates from traditionally mobile markets are opting to study closer to home than they did before the pandemic. For example, among Central and South Asian candidates, the percentage who prefer to study internationally declined from 89 to 73 percent between 2019 and 2021. Among East and Southeast Asian candidates, preference to study internationally also declined from 92 to 87 percent between 2020 and 2021, a possible indication that studying abroad was limited due to the pandemic-fueled travel restrictions.

Among international candidates—candidates whose preferred study destination differs from their country of citizenship—virtually the same proportion said in 2021 that the United States and Western Europe is their preferred destination (39%, respectively). Among international MBA candidates specifically, the U.S. is the preferred destination of half (50%), expanding its lead over second place Western Europe (28%) between 2019 and 2021. In the meantime, Western Europe remains the preferred destination of more than half of international business master’s candidates.

Belief in the value of fully online education remains low while acceptance of hybrid formats increases

Candidates see higher value in the in-person business school experience compared with online as the share of surveyed candidates who prefer fully online programs stays flat. Among global prospective students surveyed in 2021, most disagree that online degree programs offer the same value as on-campus programs (73%). Nearly 4 in 5 disagree that the networking opportunities are equivalent, and 2 in 3 disagree that the career opportunities are the same. However, these negative views softened slightly between 2020 and 2021.

At the same time, preference for hybrid models has gone up significantly across candidate types, especially those who prefer Executive, Part-time, and Flexible MBA programs (44%, from 30% in 2019), but also those who want to study full-time to earn a business master’s (20%, from 13% in 2019) or MBA (13%, from 7% in 2019). Globally, 20 percent of candidates surveyed in 2021 prefer hybrid program delivery, up from 14 percent pre-pandemic. U.S. underrepresented minority candidates (28%) also express interest in hybrid programs, up significantly from the pre-pandemic level.

Consulting continues to top prospective student interests, but tech is still on the rise

Among candidates in the United States, where “the Great Resignation” has shaken up the job market, 42 percent identify themselves as “career switchers” ─ whose goal is to either change industries or job functions by pursuing a business degree ─ significantly higher than global levels at 32 percent. As it was pre-pandemic, consulting continues to be the top industry and job function both men and women candidates aspire to. But there is growing interest in the technology industry, especially among the career switchers (50%) and non-business undergraduate majors (49%). Furthermore, between 2019 and 2021, interest in tech also increased with women (29% to 34%).

“As people perceive work differently after the pandemic, many become more open-minded to the variety of possible career paths they could pursue. It is encouraging to see that more women are pursuing a business degree as a way to build careers in the tech industry,” said Joy Jones, chief product officer and general manager of assessments at GMAC. “Graduate business education continues to be in high demand because it opens the door to a wide array of industries and job functions, including areas that are less thought about or not previously considered by traditional candidates seeking to enter business schools.”

Test optional and waiver policies led to unintended consequences

Globally, most candidates agree that admissions exams improve the fairness and transparency of business school admissions. Most also agree that exams improve schools’ reliability in evaluating applicants and demonstrate the importance they place on the quality of the students they admit. A clear trend in survey responses is that international candidates view admissions testing especially favorably. About half say a school’s use of admissions exams is an indicator of the quality of the program and is an important criterion for considering applying to that school, and twice as many international candidates agree than disagree that admissions exams are an effective way to determine which students to admit. Additionally, about 2 in 5 prospective students agree that the criteria for test waivers are complex and do not apply to a large proportion of applicants, and about 1 in 3 say waivers disproportionately benefit candidates who are less prepared for a graduate business degree program.

“The data shows that prospective applicants have mixed feelings about test waiver and optional policies because of their complexity and perceptions of reduced transparency and fairness. This trend of perception is particularly acute amongst international students,” said Maite Salazar, chief marketing officer at GMAC. “The unintended consequences of test optional and waiver policies might be that they may adversely affect the perception of the commitment to student quality of programs that offer them.”

For more than a decade, the Prospective Students Survey has provided the world’s graduate business schools with critical insights into the decision-making processes of people currently considering applying to a graduate management education program through mba.com—the GMAC website for prospective graduate business students. This year, to increase the breadth and depth of prospective student voices reflected in this report, all individuals who registered for an mba.com account in the month prior were invited to the subsequent month’s survey. Additionally, for the first time, the sample of mba.com registrants was supplemented by prospective students who attended events hosted by The MBA Tour, visited the BusinessBecause website, or registered for the NMAT by GMAC exam in India—all also GMAC properties. Visit GMAC.com to read the full report.

About GMAC

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is a mission-driven association of leading graduate business schools worldwide. Founded in 1953, GMAC creates solutions and experiences that enable business schools and candidates to better discover, evaluate, and connect with each other. 

GMAC provides world-class research, industry conferences, recruiting tools, and assessments for the graduate management education industry, as well as tools, resources, events, and services that help guide candidates through their higher education journey. Owned and administered by GMAC, the Graduate Management Admission Test™ (GMAT™) exam is the most widely used graduate business school assessment.

More than 12 million prospective students a year trust GMAC’s websites, including mba.com, to learn about MBA and business master’s programs, connect with schools around the world, prepare and register for exams and get advice on successfully applying to MBA and business master’s programs. BusinessBecause and The MBA Tour are subsidiaries of GMAC, a global organization with offices in China, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

To learn more about our work, please visit www.gmac.com

Media Contact:

Teresa Hsu
Sr. Manager, Media Relations
202-390-4180 (mobile)
thsu@gmac.com

A PDF accompanying this announcement is available at http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/d3170b54-b044-4d0c-8850-b3334540861a

Source: Graduate Management Admission Council

–BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 (Bernama) — Based on an original idea by EGOT Megaproducer (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) Nominee Ryan Kavanaugh, Skill House is the first of a franchise and is slated to start principal production in June 2022 with an expected early 2023 release date.

“This film intends to break the boundary between the short-form social media phenomenon and long-form content. Bryce (Hall) is one of the most recognised and polarising influencers with over 50 million followers and will certainly be a crossover star,” said Kavanaugh.

“The film digs deep into the human psyche and the new generation’s thirst for stardom, asking how far they would go? It will be bloody, it will be dark, and it will certainly be talked about.”

It is financed and controlled by Proxima Studios and written and directed by horror film legend Josh Stolberg, co-writer of horror films such as Spiral: From the Book of Saw (starring Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson), Jigsaw, Piranha 3D, Sorority Row, as well as the next Saw film (tentatively titled Saw X).

According to a statement, Skill House will be the first film to be ‘listed’ on the entertainment stock exchange (ESX), a first-of-its-kind platform allowing users to invest in the film and trade in or out of the film and its upside.

Starring social media personality Bryce Hall, Skill House takes a stab at social media influencers and will be an unflinching take on fame and what new celebrities are willing to do to attain it.

It will be shot in the Sway House, a mansion in Bel Air, made famous by many of Tik Tok’s biggest stars. It will skewer the landscape of young celebrities who will do anything for a ‘click’.

Kavanaugh, the 24th highest-grossing producer of all time, has produced and or financed over 200 films such as Fast and Furious 3,4,5,6, Social Network, 300, Mamma Mia!, Limitless, Fighter, Zombieland, and many more.

Kavanaugh also previously owned Rogue Pictures, which launched over 60 horror movies, including Strangers, The Unborn, and My Soul to Take.

Daniel Herther, who oversees production and creative development at Proxima, will serve as executive producer. Before joining Proxima, Herther produced the Nic Cage thriller Inconceivable and held executive roles at Relativity Media and WB’s Hollywood Gang (300).

— BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 (Bernama) — Heze, a city redolent with the fragrance of flowers, not only has the blooming peony but also boasts a culture of 5,000 years.

This spring, an art event will showcase the profound cultural heritage of Heze, which will be sure to arouse strong artistic feelings in the people here, according to a statement.

Hosted by the People’s Government of Heze and co-organised by the Publicity Department of the CPC Heze Municipal Committee, the Heze Federation of Literature and Art, and the Heze Culture and Tourism Bureau, the 2022 Heze Peony Culture and Art Exhibition opened on schedule at the VR Cloud Exhibition Hall on April 7.

Once announced, the call for submissions quickly set off a craze for the competition. The organisers received almost 40,000 works from Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and China, with the event reaching new heights in many aspects, such as the scope, number, and quality of the works.

After an impartial open selection by experts from national associations and the Shandong Provincial Federations of Literature and Art, 98 works of fine art, 100 works of calligraphy, 100 photographs, and 300 works of cultural creativity were selected, with their display at the event for review of and appreciation by the public.

“As a high-tech product, the VR Cloud Exhibition Hall brings the exhibition to the cloud, creating a never-ending art event,” said a spokesman for the event.

The Cloud Exhibition model breaks the barriers of distance, time, and space, and greatly increases the popularity of the event, giving flowers that bloom for just 20 days a chance to bloom across the whole year without fading.

It allows artists and enthusiasts from all over China to intuitively feel the details of the entire exhibition hall and the works in 3D on their mobile phones without leaving their homes. They can experience the combination of peony cultural art and information technology.

— BERNAMA

AsiaNet 95274

^{Twenty diplomats of 18 countries, visited QI-ANXIN on the morning of March 30.} 

BEIJING, April 1, 2022 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/–

Twenty diplomats of 18 countries visited QI-ANXIN on the morning of March 30.

The diplomatic delegation had in-depth exchanges and discussions with Chairman Qi Xiangdong and President Wu Yunkun of QI-ANXIN Group on the company’s achievements in ensuring network security for the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. QI-ANXIN shared the solutions, products and services for building national-level cybersecurity systems in the fields of energy, finance, industrial control and critical information infrastructure. Afterwards, the delegation visited the company’s cybersecurity operation center, industrial control laboratory and forensic laboratory.

“We are very happy to come to QI-ANXIN for communication today. Network protection has become an important part of national defense, and I hope we can take this opportunity to increase our understanding of cybersecurity technology and China’s hi-tech companies like QI-ANXIN in this field,” said by the diplomat on behalf of the 20-member delegation.

One of the diplomats asked in detail about the challenges faced and innovative technologies adopted by QI-ANXIN in securing the network for the Winter Games. Chairman Qi Xiangdong expressed his willingness to share the company’s successful experience in cybersecurity for the 2022 Beijing Winter Games and provide cybersecurity services and capabilities to partner countries.

Nowadays, global countries face a number of challenges to cyber security. According to the Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2021 released by Interpol, the top five cyber threats Africa currently facing are: online scam, digital extortion, business email compromise, ransomware and botnets. A report released by UAE cybersecurity firm DarkMatter shows that three-quarters of oil and gas companies in the Middle East have some forms of cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and that the financial, oil & gas, public utilities and transportation infrastructure sectors are frequently subject to cyber-attacks.

It is known that QI-ANXIN has carried out network security business in Europe, South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and provided cybersecurity services and solutions for some large Chinese enterprises “going global” and overseas branches of major Chinese commercial banks. In 2021, QI-ANXIN participated in the cybersecurity construction of critical infrastructure sectors and important government agencies in Indonesia, Algeria, Angola, Ethiopia and other countries.

Source: QI-ANXIN

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   Caption: Twenty diplomats of 18 countries, visited QI-ANXIN on the morning of March 30.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 (Bernama) — Tommy Hilfiger, owned by PVH Corp has announced that applications for the fourth edition of the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge are open.

The global programme echoes Tommy Hilfiger’s sustainability vision to Waste Nothing and Welcome All, amplifying and supporting new voices in the world of social entrepreneurship who are shaping scalable and disruptive innovations to create a more inclusive future of fashion.

“The Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge aims to bring together entrepreneurs from all walks of life, investing knowledge and resources to unlock the unique power of their innovations,” said Tommy Hilfiger.

“As an entrepreneur myself, I always wanted to build a global lifestyle brand that is inclusive of everyone — a philosophy that continues to live through this challenge. I truly believe that by coming together we can drive a future of meaningful and long-lasting change.”

In line with Tommy Hilfiger’s commitments towards inclusion, diversity, and acknowledging the gap in equity and equal opportunities, individuals from historically underrepresented communities, including Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), people with disabilities and women, are strongly encouraged to apply this year.

Applications can be submitted by April 29, 2022, according to a statement.

Tommy Hilfiger is inviting fans of the brand to participate in the first phase of the challenge as Digital Judges. They will help the brand narrow down all applications to the Top 50. Interested applicants are invited to apply until April 20, 2022.

The top 50 applicants will then be narrowed down to six finalists through an internal procedure. Each finalist will be invited to further develop their business plan with the support of dedicated Tommy Hilfiger and external experts ahead of the final event.

With training from an experienced pitch coach, each finalist will then present their concept to a jury panel and internal Tommy Hilfiger associate audience at the global Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge final event in early 2023.

More information about the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge, including how to apply, is available at https://responsibility.pvh.com/tommy/fashion-frontier-challenge/.

— BERNAMA