There’s a mood shift under way among MBA aspirants. A decade of dreaming about a foreign campus — the red brick of London, the leafy lawns of the US — is suddenly punctured by an awkward question: can I actually stay and work there after I graduate?

Amid policy shifts and visa uncertainties, the answer, for many, has become “maybe not.” So they’re looking at home.

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GMAC’s 2025 Application Trends report, the broad snapshot schools use to read recruitment cycles, reads like a map being redrawn. Global applications to MBA programmes have risen by about 7 percent. The uptick is strongest in Asia, with East and Southeast Asia reporting a 42% jump.

In India, the surge is a striking 26% in applications.

But at the same time, interest in the traditional destinations such as Canada, the UK and the US is cooling. Visa rules, rising costs and post-study job prospect uncertainty are reshaping decisions.

Could this inward turn be a genuine win for India’s business schools and the wider economy, or a pressure test for capacity and quality? Let’s unpack the data and what it means.

PUSH FACTORS BEHIND THE GLOBAL SHIFT

What pushed students to rethink study plans? It’s simple. Canada capped study permits for 2025 to ease pressure on housing and services, cutting availability and adding new provincial attestation rules.