As students return to classrooms, GMAC provides resources for business school practitioners and administrators to sharpen their strategies, discover new insights, and identify new solutions that refine their craft.

From professional development opportunities to the latest research to marketing and recruitment solutions, class is in session for admissions, marketing, recruitment, and program management professionals, too.

Here are six “back-to-school” tips on how you can take advantage of GMAC resources this new academic year.

1. Understand candidate preferences and employer outlooks with GMAC research.

Providing market intelligence is one of the most critical ways that GMAC supports school professionals and their understanding of the candidate pipeline.

When you plan your next marketing campaigns and recruitment events, be sure to refer to the annual GMAC Prospective Students Survey—which this year offered fresh insights about candidates’ financing plans, preferred communication channels, decision-making factors, and much more.

Looking for proof points from employers about why they trust business schools or which skills they value most in the GME graduates they hire? This year’s Corporate Recruiters Survey report contains key findings about their views on artificial intelligence (AI), Gen Z graduates, and more.

As you incorporate AI into the classroom and your strategic planning, we published a white paper that examines how business schools are approaching AI today, what challenges and best practices they have encountered, and what the future may hold for institutions looking to level up their AI integration.

In the months ahead, stay on the lookout for GMAC’s annual Application Trends Survey report and research briefs about business master’s programs, working professionals, and international mobility.

2. Learn from experts—and your peers—with GMAC’s professional development opportunities.

GMAC’s flagship event of the year, the GMAC Annual Conference, welcomed 450 participants to Kansas City, MO, this past June.

The following month we piloted our latest offering, the Admissions Institute for Advanced Professionals—an event intended to be the next step after our Admissions Institute for New Professionals for mid-career practitioners looking for fresh takes on their roles and the GME industry.

Looking for a low-cost, minimal-travel way to level up your skills and industry knowledge? Our new Insight Series, developed based on specific feedback from schools for shorter, more local, and more cost-effective professional development opportunities—are one day events designed to equip you with the latest insights and tools to stay ahead in the evolving GME landscape.

3. Get region-specific insights.

As a global organization with offices in the United States, China, India, and the United Kingdom, GMAC offers localized research, events, and connections to candidates from around the world.

To complement our core global research picture with specific geographic insights, we annually publish regional profiles with data from the GMAC Prospective Students Survey and Corporate Recruiters Survey to support your recruitment strategies in specific markets.

You wanted to know about the future pipeline for GME, so we responded with our Demand for Graduate Management Education white paper which asked: Where are the most potential GME candidates, where do they want to study, and why? We answered these questions by combining trends in population growth and educational attainment with country profiles of candidate preferences and behaviors.

In addition to insights from our research, our school relationship teams offer on-the-ground expertise and firsthand knowledge of candidates in major markets.

Check out opportunities to connect with the dedicated GMAC representative for your institution, hear about the latest local insights from our research, and connect with peers in your region at GMAC’s upcoming Asia Conference in Hong Kong and Europe Conference in Madrid.

4. Connect with candidates along their whole journey to your business school.

As you plan the academic year, know that GMAC’s Marketing and Recruitment Solutions can help you connect with candidates at any stage of their journey to your classrooms.

Build your school’s brand with millions of candidates and hone your storytelling with GMAC’s Media Solutions, and connect with 560,000+ qualified candidates who have opted in to receive email communications from business schools through GMAC’s GradSelect Search Service.

As candidates are weighing their next academic steps, GMAC Tours grant you face time through nearly 100 annual events presented in cities around the world and virtually.

Want to learn more? Contact a GMAC representative today!

5. Incorporate ready-to-use presentations and flyers into your candidate conversations about the GMAT exam.

GMAC’s assessments were designed with business schools to serve the specific needs of graduate management education and GME aspirants as they discover and evaluate each other.

The GMAT exam is the most trusted, proven, and well-understood predictor of academic success within GME, accepted by more than 7,700 GME programs around the world.

When you’re talking to candidates in the coming months, GMAC has developed tools for you to learn about and promote the GMAT exam, including ready-made presentations, flyers, and webinars featured on the GMAT Resource Center that can be shared directly with your prospects.

Remember, the 11th edition of the GMAT exam, released in November 2023, has a different score scale than the 10th edition, so be sure any information about the GMAT is up-to-date for candidates visiting your website.

In addition, GMAC’s Executive Assessment is designed to evaluate business school readiness in the context of career experience, and the NMAT by GMAC exam helps create opportunities as the most candidate-friendly MBA admissions exam for candidates applying to graduate business programs in India, the Philippines, South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, and Hungary.

6. Stay connected with GMAC.

As an association of business schools, GMAC advocates for the value of GME through our outreach to media outlets around the world. We believe through positive exposure, we actively encourage business school aspirants to take the next steps toward their educational and career success, deepening the global candidate pipeline.

Take a look back at our past year of impact in our Report to Schools and subscribe to our monthly newsletter Connections to learn more about how you can get involved with GMAC and the GME community.