USD Business School Named to Prestigious Management Council

Just five schools from around the world have been selected this year as members of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and two of them are from San Diego.

Both the University of San Diego School of Business Administration and the UC San Diego Rady School of Management have been selected as member institutions of the council, the international nonprofit association of business schools that owns the GMAT exam.

An institution’s acceptance as a member of GMAC reflects its commitment to the highest standards in graduate management education. As members of GMAC, the two schools will help shape the future direction of the organization, which has played an integral role in the development and advancement of management education since its founding in 1953.

“Our members guide us at GMAC,” said Dave Wilson, president and chief executive officer of the Graduate Management Admission Council. “Everything we do is driven by our role as an organization created and directed by the world’s best business schools.”

“Membership in this premier organization is a very selective process,” noted David Pyke, Dean of USD’s School of Business Administration. “This is great recognition of the strides the school has made in recent years and a tribute to the high caliber of our faculty and students. We look forward to partnering with GMAC in providing world-class business education.”

“It is an honor for our school to be selected as a member of GMAC, the organization that is leading the transformation of business education across the globe” said Robert S. Sullivan, Dean of the Rady School of Management. “It is a testament to the Rady School’s continued commitment to provide a world-class graduate management education.”

Based in Reston, Virginia, GMAC now has 205 member schools representing Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe. Three of the five new schools, EDHEC Business School in France, the Indian Institute of Management and the University of Hong Kong, are located in countries other than the United States, an indication of the increasingly global nature of management education. GMAC has embraced this trend, and now has offices in Hong Kong, London and New Delhi in addition to its U.S. headquarters.

The GMAT exam is used as part of the admissions process by more than 5,400 graduate management education programs worldwide, a 42 percent increase from the 3,800 programs that used the exam just five years ago. This growth is being fueled to a significant extent by expanding interest in the GMAT by institutions and prospective students from outside the United States, particularly Asia and Europe. The number of GMAT test locations has risen by more than a third since 2006, and now exceeds 570 centers in 110 countries.

GMAC’s investments in support of business schools also include a comprehensive professional development program and an extensive set of market research and analysis tools. The Council also actively supports efforts by schools to develop innovative ways to deliver graduate management education.

For a complete list of GMAC member institutions, please visit www.gmac.com/gmac/aboutus/governance/memberschools.htm. More information about GMAC is available at www.gmac.com. Details about the GMAT exam are at www.mba.com.

About the University of San Diego

The University of San Diego sets the standard for an engaged, contemporary Catholic university where innovative Changemakers confront humanity’s urgent challenges. With more than 9,000 students from 69 countries and 50 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. The university's eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. USD's Envisioning 2024 strategic plan capitalizes on the university’s recent progress and aligns new strategic goals with current strengths to help shape a vision for the future as the university looks ahead to its 75th anniversary in the year 2024.