We begin with a snapshot of AACSB’s most recent global enrollment data for the 2024–25 academic year. This overview highlights enrollment across degree programs at AACSB-accredited schools and provides context for understanding the current business education landscape.

The remainder of this report focuses on the undergraduate and master’s levels, the latter of which includes the MBA, master’s generalist (non-MBA), and master’s specialist degrees. Throughout the report, we explore these program categories in greater depth, examining the trends, regional variations, and demographic changes that are shaping the enrollment landscape. Stay tuned for upcoming reports that will provide a closer look at developments at the doctoral level.

Insights From Members on Enrollment Drivers

In fall 2025, AACSB surveyed its member schools to better understand the factors shaping international and overall enrollment. Respondents were presented with a list of potential influences and asked to select up to three that were currently having the greatest impact on their institution’s overall enrollment trends.

Overall, member schools regard institutional reputation and rankings, followed closely by international student mobility and visa policies, as the most influential factors—each cited by more than 40 percent of respondents. Tuition costs and affordability also present major concerns (38 percent). In contrast, less than one-quarter of respondents identify demographic or economic conditions among their top three influences, suggesting that schools view these pressures as secondary to competitive positioning and global mobility dynamics.

Regionally, several notable differences surface:

• Americas: International mobility and visa policies is most frequently selected as a top enrollment influencer, followed by tuition costs and affordability. Reputation and rankings appear less influential compared to schools in Asia Pacific and EMEA.
• Asia Pacific: Only one-quarter of schools selected international mobility and visa policies as a top-three factor, distinctly lower than reported in the other two regions.
• EMEA: More than half of respondents identify institutional reputation and rankings in their top three influences. Additionally, nearly 40 percent of schools indicate that marketing and recruitment activities played a significant role in enrollment behaviors.

While demand for undergraduate and master’s business programs has been stable, schools are experiencing a more cautious conversion from student interest to actual enrollment. This section analyzes five-year trends in demand, offering a closer look at how applications and admissions have evolved over time.

Undergraduate Programs

Over the past five years, undergraduate applications have shown steady momentum. The total number of applicants increased by 38 percent since 2020–21, reflecting an average annual growth rate of 8 percent. Offers move upward at a similar pace, increasing by 30 percent across that time frame, with an annual growth rate of 7 percent.

Growth among new entrants is more modest. Entrants increased by 10 percent over the five-year period, resulting in an annual growth rate of 2 percent. The slower increase in new entrants compared with applications and offers suggests that students may be considering more choices during the enrollment process.

Regional Trends: Undergraduate

Within this sample, total undergraduate applications remain concentrated in the Americas, where the regional share increased steadily from 57 to 62 percent over the five-year period. EMEA has a stable portion of applications, at about 24 percent, and Asia Pacific shows higher participation in the first three years of the trend, followed by a gradual decline in the most recent two years, resulting in 15 percent of all undergraduate applications.

Admissions Trends: Undergraduate

The following charts provide key insights into admissions trends at the undergraduate level, focusing on two important metrics: acceptance rates and admissions yields. These metrics, which also apply to master’s-level trends later in this section, play a crucial role in understanding institutional competitiveness and student decision-making. 

Undergraduate acceptance rates in the Americas and EMEA declined slightly over the five-year period, and admissions yields follow a similar downward trend. EMEA maintained a moderately higher yield than the Americas throughout the time frame, suggesting that a marginally larger share of admitted undergraduate students in that region chose to enroll. 

Asia Pacific shows a contrasting pattern. Undergraduate admissions yields consistently remained higher than acceptance rates, indicating that students who received offers were more likely to enroll in this region than in the others. This trend suggests a comparatively stronger commitment among admitted undergraduates in Asia Pacific, even as acceptance rates fluctuated. Additionally, the region’s acceptance rates are notably lower than those in the Americas and EMEA, reflecting a more selective admissions process overall. 

Master’s Programs

Master’s applications increased steadily over the five-year period, rising by 25 percent with an annual growth rate of about 6 percent. Offers follow a similar pattern, increasing by 19 percent overall—with a slight downturn in 2021–22—but a five-year annual growth rate of 5 percent. 

Growth in new entrants is more limited. Entrants rose by 6 percent across the period and showed a brief decline in 2022–23, resulting in an annual growth rate of about 2 percent. The slower increase in entrants compared with applications and offers suggests that admitted students may be taking more time to decide or considering a wider mix of program options before enrolling. 

Regional Trends: Master’s

Total master’s applications are concentrated in EMEA, which accounts for nearly half of all applications across the five-year period—a notable finding given the smaller sample size of EMEA schools compared to the Americas. The Americas region maintains a stable share of applications with minimal variation. Asia Pacific, although having the smallest share, experiences a gradual increase and reaches its highest point of applicants in 2024–25. 

Compared to undergraduate trends, regional distribution at the master’s level shows a more pronounced concentration in EMEA and a clearer upward shift in Asia Pacific, indicating different geographic patterns of interest across program levels. 

Master’s specialist programs consistently draw the largest share of applications, hovering around 60 percent over the five-year period. Their share remains stable, showing that interest in more focused degree paths has been a defining feature of the master’s market. MBA programs form the second-largest category and encounter a brief decline in the middle of the period before increasing in 2024–25. Master’s generalist programs, representing the smallest share, experience a slight decline over time. 

These shifts highlight how applicants at the master’s level continued to gravitate toward programs with a more specific area of focus.

Admissions: Master’s

Overall, the conversion from interest to enrollment appears similar across all master’s programs compared to undergraduate programs; however, variations emerge at different program levels and on a regional basis. 

Master’s specialist programs display the highest acceptance rates for most of the five-year period, with a gradual decline through 2023–24 and an increase in 2024–25. Master’s generalist programs also show early declines and a later rise that remains below their initial level. MBA programs have the lowest acceptance rates and move steadily downward. 

Overall, the data indicate that selectivity in undergraduate and master’s specialist programs is broadly comparable, while MBA programs remain the most selective of the three. This trend has become increasingly pronounced, with less than four in 10 MBA applicants receiving an offer on average. 

Given that MBA programs are the most selective among master’s-level offerings, it is not surprising that they also maintain the highest admission yields over the five-year period. However, this yield has steadily declined and now reflects that only about half of admitted students ultimately enroll. Master’s specialist and generalist programs, while already yielding significantly lower conversion rates than the MBA, experience similar declines. This downward trend across all program types suggests growing uncertainty or hesitation among admitted students as they make their final enrollment decisions.

From a global perspective, acceptance rates and admissions yields for master’s programs have remained relatively steady over the five-year period. Notably, in 2021–22, the typical gap between these measures briefly inverts, with a higher share of admitted students enrolling than applicants being accepted. After that year, the gap widens in the opposite direction, signaling a gradual and continued decline in yields. 

Regionally, the patterns mirror those observed at the undergraduate level, but with some distinct nuances. In the Americas, acceptance rates remained between 54 and 59 percent while admissions yields decline steadily from 49 to 43 percent, indicating that institutions are admitting more students but enrolling them in decreasing numbers.  

EMEA reflects a similar pattern, although acceptance rates hover lower than those in the Americas, between 44 and 49 percent, and yields return to baseline levels at 32 percent after peaking at 39 percent in 2021–22. Across the three regions, EMEA consistently reports the lowest share of admitted students who ultimately enrolled. 

Asia Pacific presents a contrasting profile. With the lowest acceptance rates, 27 to 30 percent, the region has maintained a more selective admissions environment, and unlike in the Americas and EMEA, its admissions yield has consistently exceeded its acceptance rate. Despite this distinct pattern, Asia Pacific’s yield has also declined over time. This slight downturn suggests that, although admitted students in the region are more likely to enroll relative to the number accepted, institutions there are still encountering increasing difficulty securing firm commitments from applicants. 

Overall, these trends point to growing enrollment uncertainty across regions, with the widening gap between acceptance and enrollment most pronounced in the Americas and EMEA. 

While concerns about wavering enrollment are top of mind for higher education leaders in certain parts of the world, AACSB’s trend data suggest that, in aggregate, total enrollment across the AACSB business school landscape has not experienced a significant level of disruption.

Keeping sample sizes in mind, undergraduate enrollment in the Americas is the largest of all regions and has increased steadily, rising by approximately 10 percent over the five-year period. Enrollment in EMEA has also grown—by about 6 percent—although at a slower annual pace, and its general scale remains significantly smaller than that of the Americas. In contrast, the Asia Pacific sample shows a consistent decline, resulting in an overall 6 percent decrease in undergraduate enrollment over the same five-year span. 

Range of Undergraduate Enrollment Shifts

While the data above show an aggregate picture of the enrollment landscape, schools in the sample report variability in the types and extent of changes in their enrollment figures. The chart below shows the range of undergraduate enrollment changes reported by schools in the sample. 

Across AACSB-accredited schools worldwide, 50 percent report growth (5 percent or more) in undergraduate enrollment over the five-year period, while 31 percent indicate declines and 20 percent convey little to no change. This distribution indicates that enrollment growth is more common than decline, but meaningful shifts, both upward and downward, are occurring across the undergraduate landscape. 

Master’s Programs

Master’s enrollment in the Americas is the largest among the three regions, with EMEA close behind—an especially notable finding given the differences in sample sizes. Although the EMEA sample is roughly one-third the size of the Americas sample, its institutions account for a substantial share of total master’s enrollment, a pattern not reflected at the undergraduate level. Across all three regions, five-year growth in master’s enrollment ranges from 4 percent in Asia Pacific to 6 percent in EMEA, indicating steady but modest expansion.

Among the three program types, the MBA is the only one to experience a five-year decline, falling by 6 percent. In contrast, enrollment in master’s specialist and generalist programs grew by 11 percent and 17 percent, respectively. However, specialist programs show a slight dip in 2024–25, a trend that will be important to monitor in future data collections.

Master’s specialist programs hold the largest share of master’s enrollment throughout the five-year period, accounting for more than 53 percent in 2024–25. Regional patterns, however, show notable variation:

• Americas: On average, 59 percent of master’s enrollment is concentrated in MBA programs.
• Asia Pacific and EMEA: Specialist programs are the dominant segment in these regions, representing an average of 54 percent and 66 percent of master’s enrollment, respectively.
• EMEA: The region shows considerably lower MBA enrollment and significantly higher generalist enrollment compared to the other regions, reflecting a greater prevalence of generalist program models in EMEA.

Total master’s enrollment changes are more varied than undergraduate enrollment shifts over the five-year period, with notable differences between master’s specialist and MBA programs. Overall, 45 percent of schools report increases in their master’s enrollment, compared to 39 percent that note declines.

MBA programs, however, present a more challenging picture: half of the schools offering MBAs report a five-year decline in MBA enrollment, with 19 percent indicating a decrease of more than 45 percent. In contrast, 57 percent of schools with master’s specialist programs report enrollment growth, with nearly one-quarter noting increases between 5 and 25 percent.

Distribution of Master’s Enrollment Sizes Across Schools

Given the diversity of schools in the sample, not only by region but also by size and institutional context, we provide an additional view to illustrate the distribution, spread, and outliers within the master’s enrollment landscape over a five-year period. The box-and-whisker plot below shows each school in the sample as an individual dot, representing its total enrollment at each master’s program level.

Key Takeaways

• While the middle of the distribution remains relatively stable, enrollment distributions remain highly skewed, driven by a small number of exceptionally large programs. This is especially evident among specialist programs, where one school enrolled nearly 10,000 students in 2020–21.
• MBA enrollments show a slight softening over the five-year period, with modest declines in both mean and median values.
• Generalist (non-MBA) programs display a polarized enrollment pattern: while most programs are enrolling fewer students, a small number of very large programs continue to grow. This polarization may be influenced by the concentration of these programs in the EMEA region, which accounts for an average of 75 percent of all generalist enrollment.
• Specialist programs demonstrate the strongest growth, with increases in both mean and median enrollment and a wider spread across institutions.

This section examines two key dimensions of business school enrollment: gender representation and international student presence and impacts. International mobility has become a closely watched indicator as institutions aim to understand emerging shifts in global student flows. The analysis below offers a deeper examination of current demographic patterns, highlights notable changes across regions and programs, and summarizes recent developments that are shaping the present environment.

Gender Representation Trends

Undergraduate Programs

Female representation in undergraduate enrollment has remained unchanged at 44 percent throughout the five-year period.

In addition to examining aggregate female-to-male enrollment ratios, we also look at the distribution of gender representation across undergraduate programs—specifically the share of programs with majority male enrollment, majority female enrollment, or gender parity. For this analysis, parity is defined as programs with female enrollment ranging from 45 to 54 percent of total enrollment.

The gender distribution across undergraduate programs shows negligible change over the five-year period. Sixty percent of schools report male-dominated undergraduate enrollment, while roughly 30 percent report gender parity. Only a small share of programs enroll a majority of female students.

Master’s Programs

At the master’s level, we examine the same trends, including differences between MBA and specialist programs.