China outstrips India in US b-school applications

For the first time, bigger and faster-growing neighbour China has overtaken India in the number of students it has sent to US management schools. According to a report, Indians had the maximum number of graduate management admission test students between 2005 and 2009, but this year, the Chinese have scored over Indians. There were more Chinese students - 80,000 against 65361 Indians - who had applied in US management schools.

When seen in context, however, the development is far from disheartening – with the rise of globally competitive business schools such as the Indian Institutes of Management and ISB, an increasing number of students prefer to study at home rather than go abroad

Indian higher education institutions are also tougher to get into than overseas colleges, as several observers have remarked. Infosys co-founder and mentor N R Narayana Murthy told CBS channel in a recent interview, "My son Rohan Murty wanted to do Computer Science at IIT. To do CS at IIT, you have to be in top 200 - he couldn't do that - so he went to Cornell instead." He added, "I do know cases where students who couldn't get into CS at IITs, but they have got scholarships at MIT, at Princeton, at Caltech," he added.

Many students in India are also interested in working in Indian companies as the country's economy is growing at a great pace, while the US economy is still battling the recession.