FT Global MBA ranking 2020: analysis
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In these troubled times for the full-time MBA it will be reassuring to some business schools that traditional strengths such as the brand value of the institution providing the course still count for something.
There is change at the top of the FT’s global ranking of MBA courses, but this is largely a reshuffling of the established group of schools at the forefront of business education, all of which are the best-known names in their respective national markets.
As this year’s list shows, the MBA is now a truly global qualification, with schools around the world ranked among the best for their residential courses. However, global demand for the degree is down for the second consecutive year.
Financial Times MBA ranking 2020
Find out which 100 business schools have made it to the 22nd edition of the FT MBA ranking.
More than half the business schools are from the US, followed by nine in China and nine in the UK.
The source of the problem is the US, where demand has been declining at most schools for five straight years, according to figures compiled annually by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the exam administrator. Total MBA applications worldwide are down 6.9 per cent compared with 2018. Some 52 per cent of MBA courses covered in the survey reported declining applications compared with 40 per cent for whom numbers increased.
This has produced fragmentation, or what Sangeet Chowfla, GMAC president and chief executive, calls “regional islands of education”. Applicants are picking just one or two schools rather than three or four and are staying closer to home in these choices, he says.
This jars with the positive message of globalisation that business schools have been so keen to promote and reflects how the world has been influenced by the rise of populist leaders with nationalist agendas, Chowfla notes.
| Country | Schools per country* |
|---|---|
| US | 51 |
| China | 9 |
| UK | 9 |
| France | 4 |
| India | 4 |
| Australia | 3 |
| Canada | 3 |
| Germany | 3 |
| Singapore | 3 |
| Spain | 3 |
| Switzerland | 2 |
| France/Singapore | 1 |
| Ireland | 1 |
| Italy | 1 |
| Netherlands | 1 |
| Portugal | 1 |
| South Korea | 1 |
| Total | 100 |
| *Based on schools’ primary campus | |
The new number one on the FT ranking is perhaps the best-known name when people mention MBAs: Harvard Business School (HBS), the architect of the case study teaching method at the heart of management tutoring.
The strength of the brand is obvious in the top 10 institutions on this year’s list. All but one are the same as in the 2019 ranking. However, this does not mean that success is a matter of simply repeating the same formula.
While there is consensus about the need for change in the full-time MBA market to counter falling demand, few can agree exactly about what needs to be done.
One of the main criticisms of MBA programmes, especially at high-quality schools which make the FT ranking, has been the escalation in tuition fees, which have risen above the rate of inflation for much of the past decade.
This year, HBS and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business have taken the radical step of freezing tuition fees for the current academic year.
It is not possible to judge from looking at the FT ranking list whether or not this was a wise strategy. Since these tuition fees were put in place, HBS has risen up the rankings but Chicago Booth has fallen.
Few agree about what should be done to counter falling demand for full-time MBAs
Other US schools are also clearly happy to let tuition fees rise further, arguing that it is inevitable given the pressure to invest in world-class teaching facilities and faculty.
“We are engaging in what all US universities do, which is price discrimination,” Harrison says. “All those that can afford to pay, do so.”
The primary issue for most deans at the top US schools is the tightening of work visa requirements for foreign students over successive White House administrations and the anti-immigrant rhetoric of the current president.
A group of 50 deans signed an open letter to the president, vice-president and main party leaders in the Senate and Congress in October, urging the removal of caps on the H-1B visa programme to allow more talented people to enter the country.
The letter also suggested the creation of a “heartland” visa that could encourage immigration to the regions of the US most likely to use the vitality of talented individuals.
The solution might lie in trying to ape other parts of the world, where the MBA market is relatively strong. Demand for the full-time degree is growing in Europe, according to GMAC. The notable difference here, aside from the more generous visa rules in many EU countries and the lower cost of their qualifications compared with the US, is the length of European teaching programmes, most of which last just one year rather than two.
For many MBA candidates, it could be that time is more valuable than money.
Top school: Harvard Business School
Top for research: University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
Highest salary: Stanford Graduate School of Business
Top for international mobility: IMD Business School
IMD in Switzerland has underlined its strength in the international mobility of its alumni, repeating last year’s top placing in a category based on mobility before their MBA, on graduation and three years after. The school is also number one for international faculty, at 98 per cent of the total. IMD is in the top 15 in the European Business School 2019 ranking and the top 20 for Executive MBAs. “[IMD] helped me to change function, industry and geography in one go,” one respondent reported.
Aims achieved: University of Florida: Warrington
Top for career service: Renmin
Renmin University of China Business School is number one for its career service and ranked second for career progress. The school, 38th overall, was also top for career progress in 2018. Renmin has one of the highest scores for aims achieved among Chinese schools, at 91 per cent, meaning that alumni fulfilled their stated reasons for doing an MBA. “I achieved changing my career to the field I wanted,” said one.
Top for salary increase: Shanghai University of Finance and Economics
Top for international students: RSM, Erasmus
Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in the Netherlands has a strong focus on developing business leaders with international careers. RSM is top in the international students category, with 99 per cent of the current MBA cohort coming from other countries. The school was also among the top 15 in the 2019 European Business Schools ranking. “For me, it opened the door to the European job market,” said one student.
Female faculty: UC at Irvine: Merage
The University of California at Irvine: Merage is nearest to gender parity among faculty, at 45 per cent women. Yet this does not carry over to other categories, with women accounting for 27 per cent of students (down 10 percentage points from last year) and 32 per cent of board members. Merage is 65th overall, down 17 places from last year. The change in the alumni employment rate after three months is the main reason for this drop, having fallen from 85 per cent last year to 71 per cent.
Highest riser: George Washington University
The university’s School of Business is the biggest riser this year, jumping 20 places to 70th overall and also 20 places to 75th for career progress. Alumni reported salaries on average 115 per cent higher from before the MBA to three years after. A growing number of foreign students cite the school’s attractive location for business and policy. Gender balance also improved, with female students increasing from 33 to 40 per cent of the cohort, as well as more women on the board and female faculty.
School profiles by Tatjana Mitevska, Leo Cremonezi and Andrew Garthwaite
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FT Global MBA ranking 2021: methodology and key
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This Financial Times MBA ranking features the world’s best 100 full-time MBA programmes. A total of 143 schools took part in the 2021 edition. All participating schools meet the FT’s entry criteria, including being accredited by Equis or the AACSB.
The FT surveys alumni three years after completing their MBA. For schools to enter the ranking calculations, the FT requires that a minimum of 20 per cent of alumni reply to the survey, with at least 20 fully completed surveys. This year only, because of disruption from the Covid-19 crisis, the FT considered schools with a lower response rate. About 6,570 from the class of 2017 completed our survey — a response rate of 44 per cent.
FT MBA ranking 2021 — top 100
The ranking has 20 different criteria. Alumni responses inform eight criteria that together contribute 61 per cent of its weight. Eleven criteria are calculated from school data, accounting for 29 per cent of the ranking. KPMG audits a number of schools every year. The remaining criterion, the research rank, counts for 10 per cent.
Alumni-informed criteria are based on the data collected over three years. Responses from the 2021 survey carry 50 per cent of total weight and those from 2020 and 2019, 25 per cent each. If only two years of data are available, the weighting is split 60:40 if data are from 2021 and 2020, or 70:30 if they are from 2021 and 2019. For salary figures, the weighting is 50:50 for two years’ data.
The first two alumni criteria are average income three years after graduation and salary increase compared with pre-MBA salary, both weighted at 20 per cent. For the latter, half of the weight applies to the absolute increase and half to the percentage rise (published). Current salaries are converted to US dollars using November 2020 IMF purchasing power parity rates.
The salaries of non-profit and public sector workers and full-time students are removed, as are the highest and lowest salaries from each school, to calculate a normalised average. Finally, salaries are weighted to reflect differences between different sectors.
“Value for money” for each school is calculated by dividing their average alumni salary three years after graduation by their MBA’s total cost, including tuition, lost salary, opportunity cost and other expenses. Any financial help given to alumni is subtracted from the total.
The FT also collects information from schools on their current faculty, newly enrolled students and the latest graduating class. School criteria include the diversity of staff, board members and students by gender, nationality and the MBA’s international reach. For gender criteria, schools with a 50:50 composition score highest.
The research rank is based on the number of articles by full-time faculty in 50 internationally recognised academic and practitioner journals. The rank combines the number of publications from January 2018 to July 2020, with the number weighted relative to faculty size.
The corporate social responsibility rank is based on the proportion of teaching hours from core courses dedicated to CSR, ethics, social and environmental issues. It carries a weight of three per cent.
The FT Global MBA ranking is a relative listing. Schools are ranked against each other by calculating a Z-score for each criterion. The Z-score is a statistic that shows where a score lies in relation to the mean. These scores are then weighted as outlined in the ranking key and added together for a final score.
After removing schools that did not meet the response rate threshold from the alumni survey, a first version is calculated using all remaining schools. The school at the bottom is removed and a second version is calculated and so on until we reach the top 100. The top 100 schools are ranked accordingly to produce the 2020 list.
Some schools that took part in the ranking previously were unable to participate this time due to challenges from the pandemic.
Judith Pizer of Pizer-MacMillan acted as the FT’s database consultant.
Financial Times MBA 2021 key
Weights for ranking criteria are shown in brackets as a percentage of the overall ranking.
Salary today **: average alumnus salary three years after completion, US$ PPP equivalent. This figure is not used in the ranking. #
Weighted salary (20): average alumnus salary three years after completion, US$ PPP equivalent, with adjustment for variations between sectors. #
Salary increase (20): average difference in alumni salary from before the MBA to now. Half of this figure is calculated according to the absolute salary increase and half according to the percentage increase relative to pre-MBA salary. #
Value for money (3): calculated using salary today, course length, tuition and other costs, including lost income during the MBA. #
Career progress (3): calculated according to changes in the level of seniority and the size of company alumni work in now, compared with before their MBA. #
Aims achieved (3): the extent to which alumni fulfilled their stated goals or reasons for doing an MBA. #
Careers service (3): effectiveness of the school careers service for career counselling, personal development, networking events, internship search and recruitment, as rated by their alumni. #
Employed at three months (2): percentage of the most recent graduating class which had found employment or accepted a job offer within three months of completing their studies. The figure in brackets is the percentage of the class for which the school was able to provide employment data and is used to calculate the school’s final score in this category. §
Alumni recommend (3): calculated according to selection by alumni of three schools from which they would recruit MBA graduates. #
Female faculty (2): percentage of female faculty.
Female students (2): percentage of female students on the full-time MBA.
Women on board (1): percentage of female members on the school’s advisory board.
International faculty (4): calculated according to the diversity of faculty by citizenship and the percentage whose nationality differs from their country of employment — the figure published in the table. ‡
International students (4): calculated according to the diversity of current MBA students by citizenship and the percentage whose nationality differs from the country in which they study — the figure in the table. ‡
International board (2): percentage of the board whose citizenship differs from the country in which the school is based.
International mobility (6): based on alumni citizenship and the countries where they worked before their MBA, on graduation and three years after.
International course experience (3): calculated according to whether the most recent graduating MBA class completed exchanges and company internships, lasting at least a month, in countries other than where the school is based. For 2021, the calculation was based on the average across the past two or three years of international course experience data, if available. For schools that have taken part for the first time this year, only data from the 2021 survey were used.
Extra languages (1): number of languages required on graduation, excluding English. §
Faculty with doctorates (5): percentage of full-time faculty with a doctoral degree.
FT research rank (10): calculated according to the number of articles published by current full-time faculty members in 50 selected academic and practitioner journals between January 2018 and July 2020. The FT50 rank combines the absolute number of publications with the number weighted relative to the faculty’s size.
Corporate social responsibility (3): proportion of teaching hours from core courses dedicated to CSR, ethics, social and environmental issues.
Overall satisfaction **: average evaluation by alumni of the course, scored out of 10. After alumni answered various questions about their MBA experience, they were asked to rate their overall satisfaction, on a 10-point scale. This figure is not used in the ranking.
Footnotes
Schools with a 50:50 (male/female) composition receive the highest possible score in the three gender-related criteria.
§ Alumni who completed MBA between July 2019 and June 2020.
# Includes data for the class of 2017 and one or two preceding classes where available.
‡ While we recognise the distinction between Chinese and Taiwanese scholars and students, within China no such distinction may have been observed when recording diversity.
** Category not used in the ranking.
The FT research rank was calculated using Clarivate Analytics data from the Web of Science, an abstract and citation database of research literature.
Рейтинг мва financial times
Такой подход в теории мог бы показать, что в некоторых случаях качество жизни выпускников программ Executive MBA за пределами США может оказаться лучше, чем у тех, кто остался после учебы в Калифорнии. Явное доминирование в рейтинге программ, ориентированных на рынок Восточной Азии, в первую очередь Китая, за счет более высоких показателей доходов выпускников, является, по всей видимости, исключительно результатом пересчета доходов выпускников в юанях, чтобы получить итоговую сумму в долларах. Если бы такой пересчет осуществлялся по биржевому курсу, оценки доходов выпускников программ для азиатских рынков, вероятно, оказались бы существенно ниже.
По всей видимости, именно в результате такой оценки доходов по ППС самая известная программа ЕМВА Лиги Плюща – в школе Уортон (University of Pennsylvania: Wharton) – оказалась в рейтинге на 24-м месте; бизнес-школа Колумбийского университета (Columbia Business School) – на 28-м; а Бизнес-школа им.Стивена Росса университета Мичигана ( University of Michigan: Ross) – на 44-м. Среди других арифметических, по всей видимости, последствий можно отметить, что бизнес-школа Келлогг (Kellogg School of Management), безусловно одна из лучших в США, попала в рейтинг три раза и занимает с разными партнерами места от первого до тридцать седьмого. Единственный источник надежной поддержки американских программ в рейтинге – это стабильно высокие академические результаты, т.е. регулярные публикации преподавателей.
Рейтинг мва financial times
Представлен ежегодный рейтинг MBA бизнес школ 2020. Американский журнал Financial Times сравнивает самые известные учебные заведения, выпускниками которых являются бизнесмены, экономисты и политики мирового уровня.
Ранжирование проводится по средневзвешенной заработной плате выпускников, росту их доходов, востребованности на рынке труда.
Рейтинг роста зарплат выпускников топ-100 бизнес-школ
Рейтинг карьерного роста выпускников лучших бизнес-школ
| Место в рейтинге | Название школы | Страна | Карьерный рост |
| 1 | Гарвардская школа бизнеса | США | 8 |
| 2 | Пенсильванский университет: Wharton | США | 17 |
| 3 | Стэнфордская высшая школа бизнеса | США | 1 |
| 4 | Insead | Франция / Сингапур | 27 |
| 5 | Ceibs | Китай | 11 |
| 6 | MIT: Sloan | США | 23 |
| 7 | Лондонская школа бизнеса | Соединенное Королевство | 22 |
| 8 | Колумбийская школа бизнеса | США | 25 |
| 9 | HEC Paris | Франция | 18 |
| 10 | Чикагский университет: Бут | США | 52 |
| 11 | Северо-Западный университет: Келлогг | США | 35 год |
| 12 | Калифорнийский университет в Беркли: Хаас | США | 55 |
| 13 | Бизнес-школа Iese | Испания | 9 |
| 14 | Йельская школа менеджмента | США | 49 |
| 15 | Бизнес-школа Национального университета Сингапура | Сингапур | 45 |
| 16 | Университет Дьюка: Fuqua | США | 53 |
| 16 | Дартмутский колледж: Так | США | 42 |
| 18 | Университет Вирджинии: Дарден | США | 64 |
| 19 | Кембриджский университет: судья | Соединенное Королевство | 15 |
| 19 | Бизнес-школа HKUST | Китай | 10 |
| 21 | Оксфордский университет: Саид | Соединенное Королевство | 20 |
| 22 | Нью-Йоркский университет: Стерн | США | 46 |
| 23 | Корнельский университет: Джонсон | США | 71 |
| 24 | Бизнес-школа Эсаде | Испания | 21 |
| 25 | Школа менеджмента Андерсона UCLA | США | 62 |
| 25 | Бизнес-школа IMD | Швейцария | 12 |
| 27 | Индийский институт менеджмента Бангалор | Индия | 13 |
| 28 | Индийская школа бизнеса | Индия | 26 |
| 29 | Школа менеджмента SDA Bocconi | Италия | 66 |
| 30 | Мичиганский университет: Росс | США | 77 |
| 31 | Карнеги-Меллон: Теппер | США | 73 |
| 32 | Джорджтаунский университет: МакДонаф | США | 59 |
| 33 | Школа менеджмента Университета Фудань | Китай | 6 |
| 34 | Университет Флориды: Уоррингтон | США | 32 |
| 35 | Бизнес-школа Наньян, NTU Singapore | Сингапур | 83 |
| 36 | Университет Южной Калифорнии: Маршалл | США | 60 |
| 37 | Шанхайский университет Цзяо Тонг: Антай | Китай | 19 |
| 38 | Школа бизнеса Китайского университета Жэньминь (RMBS) | Китай | 2 |
| 39 | Университет Северной Каролины: Кенан-Флаглер | США | 58 |
| 40 | Техасский университет в Остине: Маккомбс | США | 81 |
| 40 | Университет Индианы: Келли | США | 78 |
| 42 | Индийский институт менеджмента в Калькутте | Индия | 5 |
| 43 | Бизнес-школа Уорика | Соединенное Королевство | 43 |
| 44 | Вашингтонский университет: Олин | США | 69 |
| 45 | Бизнес-школа Alliance Manchester | Соединенное Королевство | 31 |
| 45 | Университет Вандербильта: Оуэн | США | 28 |
| 47 | Вашингтонский университет: Фостер | США | 98 |
| 47 | Университет Эмори: Гойзуэта | США | 54 |
| 47 | Шанхайский университет финансов и экономики: Колледж бизнеса | Китай | 4 |
| 50 | Бизнес-школа CUHK | Китай | 29 |
| 50 | Город, Лондонский университет, Школа бизнеса (ранее Касс) | Соединенное Королевство | 16 |
| 52 | Бизнес-школа IE | Испания | 33 |
| 53 | Технологический институт Джорджии: Шеллер | США | 79 |
| 54 | Университет Сунгюнкван GSB | Южная Корея | 14 |
| 55 | Бизнес-школа Имперского колледжа | Соединенное Королевство | 57 |
| 56 | Бизнес-школа HKU | Китай | 34 |
| 57 | Университет Райса: Джонс | США | 90 |
| 57 | Университет Нотр-Дам: Мендоса | США | 37 |
| 59 | Государственный университет Пенсильвании: Smeal | США | 74 |
| 60 | Колледж Бэбсона: Олин | США | 3 |
| 61 | Индийский институт менеджмента Ахмедабад | Индия | 7 |
| 62 | Бизнес-школа Даремского университета | Соединенное Королевство | 44 |
| 63 | Сингапурский университет менеджмента: Ли Конг Чиан | Сингапур | 89 |
| 64 | WHU — Школа менеджмента Отто Байсхайма | Германия | 61 |
| 65 | Калифорнийский университет в Ирвине: Мераж | США | 85 |
| 66 | Роттердамская школа менеджмента, Университет Эразмус | Нидерланды | 48 |
| 67 | Бостонский университет: Questrom | США | 76 |
| 68 | Университет Санкт-Галлена | Швейцария | 50 |
| 69 | Северо-Восточный университет: Д’Амор-МакКим | США | 99 |
| 70 | Университет Джорджа Вашингтона | США | 75 |
| 71 | Бизнес-школа Мангейма | Германия | 67 |
| 72 | Государственный университет Огайо: Фишер | США | 97 |
| 73 | Университет Мэриленда: Смит | США | 93 |
| 74 | Питтсбургский университет: Кац | США | 95 |
| 74 | СМУ: Кокс | США | 30 |
| 76 | Университет Рочестера: Саймон | США | 36 |
| 77 | Школа бизнеса Университета Коннектикута | США | 70 |
| 78 | Университет Миннесоты: Карлсон | США | 65 |
| 79 | Бизнес-школа EMLyon | Франция | 40 |
| 80 | Мельбурнская школа бизнеса | Австралия | 72 |
| 81 | Техасский университет в Далласе: Джиндал | США | 100 |
| 82 | ESMT Берлин | Германия | 91 |
| 83 | Университет Бригама Янга: Marriott | США | 68 |
| 84 | Католическая программа MBA в Лиссабоне | Новая звезда | Португалия | 39 |
| 85 | Университет Пердью: Краннерт | США | 86 |
| 86 | Техасский университет A&M: Майс | США | 82 |
| 87 | Западный университет: Айви | Канада | 56 |
| 88 | AGSM в бизнес-школе UNSW | Австралия | 92 |
| 88 | Бизнес-школа Edhec | Франция | 63 |
| 88 | Бизнес-школа Essec | Франция | 47 |
| 91 | Университет Макгилла: Desautels | Канада | 87 |
| 92 | Висконсинская школа бизнеса | США | 96 |
| 93 | Бизнес-школа Майами Герберт | США | 80 |
| 94 | Университет Торонто: Ротман | Канада | 88 |
| 95 | Бизнес-школа Эдинбургского университета | Соединенное Королевство | 24 |
| 96 | Калифорнийский университет в Сан-Диего: Рэди | США | 94 |
| 97 | Бизнес-школа Маккуори | Австралия | 51 |
| 98 | Городской университет Гонконга | Китай | 38 |
| 99 | Университетский колледж Дублина: Smurfit | Ирландия | 41 |
| 100 | Университет Джорджии: Терри | США | 84 |
Рейтинг востребованности выпускников бизнес-школ
Рейтинг востребованности характеризуется процентом выпускников, которые нашли работу или получили предложение от работодателя в течение 3 месяцев после получения MBA.