‘Africa is final frontier for graduate management education’
Ron Sibert, Africa business development director, Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), in this chat with KELECHI EWUZIE, gives insight into how African students and indeed Nigeria can benefit from sharpening important analytical and problem solving skills with practice using GMAT exam preparation materials developed by GMAC. Excerpt:
What is GMAC about?
GMAC is a global nonprofit association of leading business schools around the world dedicated to creating access to graduate management programmes around the world. The organisation’s stated focus is to “connect talent and aspiration with opportunity.” In those terms, and with respect to graduate management education, Africa is the final frontier.
By all accounts, Africa’s economies are growing by leaps and bounds. Management skills are critical to sustain that rate of economic growth and Africa has a severe shortage of management talent. GMAC is exploring ways to help increase the pipeline of talented African students for graduate study both within and outside Africa to help close the gap.
With respect to graduate management education options for, Africa is in many ways at a similar stage of development as were China and India. In years past those countries exported a quite high proportion of their higher education candidates to the West. Since then, both have developed quality domestic programmes that use admission tests like the GMAT exam to select the best students and compete favorably with Western institutions. They now retain a much higher proportion of their native talent. Africa is now moving in that direction.
African institutions also have begun using standards of international accreditation many recognising that they are not just African schools anymore; they are competing on the global stage to provide good domestic alternatives to programmes abroad.
Based on GMAT exam performance though, African students are not as well prepared for graduate management study as their counterparts in other world regions. On average, they do not score well on the GMAT exam the global standard for admission to and even funding for the world’s best graduate management programmes.
How can GMAC products and services help our students do better?
First, let’s understand why Nigerian and other African GMAT examinees have difficulty with the GMAT exam. GMAC research suggests that this occurs not because Africans are less capable it is because they simply are less prepared. In Nigeria, rote memorization is prevalent as is the case in most traditional African education models. Students are tested on their ability to reproduce information they’ve recently learned and memorised. There is little opportunity for students to apply what they’ve learned for instance, to analyse or solve problems. The GMAT exam calls for students to just that to use their existing knowledge to analyze and solve problems. Because Africans often lack exposure to this type of testing, do not understand the importance of preparation or how it differs from studying for traditional tests. So either they do not prepare at all or do so ineffectively. Performance suffers as a result.
What impact do you think your presence in Africa will have?
The rates of economic growth and levels of international investment in Africa have been increasing over the past several years owing mostly to increased productivity. Yet, unemployment among African citizens remains problematic. Nigeria, for instance, has the richest economy on the African continent. Yet, unemployment rates remain high because employers have difficulty finding qualified domestic talent to fill their ever growing number of professional and management positions. While management education has a critical role to play in remedying this situation, many Africans even those who are well-educated are poorly positioned to pursue it.
GMAC efforts are aimed at helping African citizens become better prepared for the rigors of management education and/or for the analytical demands of the careers to which they aspire. This in turn will create opportunities for more Africans to access quality higher education and eventually embark on successful careers. When African higher education institutions and employers have a larger talent pool from which to draw, everyone wins African citizens, schools, employers and Africa as a whole.
What are your goals?
Our short-term goal is building the awareness among African aspiring managers about the value of preparation for sharpening problem-solving skills, improving GMAT exam performance and their role of these in creating opportunities for career success. I believe this goes beyond practicing to produce a competitive score on the GMAT exam to gain admission to graduate school or to win scholarships. Nigerian employers, for example, routinely administer aptitude tests to their prospective hires. These tests often are modeled after the GMAT exam the globally recognised graduate management admission standard. Therefore GMAT exam preparation in a very real sense can actually improve one’s positioning for employment by improving test performance. .
In the medium and long term, we want to grow the pool of African college graduates who are well qualified and prepared to take up the challenge of personal and career development the programmes will help African students to be better equipped and prepared to take whatever role they choose.
What are the types of training that are available and who are those qualified to take them?
Anyone can purchase and begin using GMAT preparation materials. They are usually used by test prep organisations and students preparing for the exam. African students often have the mistaken belief that if they will do well simply by taking a course. The most important ingredient though is individual effort. Regardless of whether one takes a preparation course or prepares independently, the individual’s investment in time and their discipline to practice are the key determinants of success on the GMAT exam. While there are many providers of GMAT preparation, they vary in terms of approach, quality and effectiveness. Therefore, GMAC does not endorse any particular approach. Generally, students who have an undergraduate degree and are able to perform in English may apply for admission to graduate management programmes. Any Nigerian who wants to improve their chances for admission and/or position themselves favourably for employment can undertake GMAT preparation.