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The best MBAs in the world right now
30 Jan 2018
Which are the schools that top the Financial Times’ ranking of the best 100 full-time MBA programmes for 2018?
Will INSEAD hold on to its top spot for the third year running? Or have US President Donald Trump’s alma mater unseated it?
This year’s edition certainly has variations to last year’s, with Stanford back at number one, thanks to its 2014 alumni earning the highest average salary three years after graduation. Ths is a whopping 114 percent increase from their pre-MBA days.
One graduate said: “Stanford’s MBA enabled me to land my two jobs post-graduation and get much better positions than otherwise.”
| Rank in 2018 | 3 yr. rank | School name | Country | Weighted salary($) | Salary increase(%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Stanford Graduate School of Business | US | 214,742 | 114 |
| 2 | 1 | Insead | France / Singapore | 177,157 | 105 |
| 3 | 3 | University of Pennsylvania: Wharton | US | 190,826 | 96 |
| 4 | 4 | London Business School | UK | 167,897 | 109 |
| 5 | 4 | Harvard Business School | US | 192,133 | 102 |
| 6 | 8 | University of Chicago: Booth | US | 174,153 | 118 |
| 7 | 7 | Columbia Business School | US | 177,680 | 103 |
| 8 | 12 | Ceibs | China | 162,858 | 168 |
| 9 | 10 | MIT: Sloan | US | 173,095 | 98 |
| 10 | 10 | University of California at Berkeley: Haas | US | 176,167 | 104 |
| 11 | 12 | Iese Business School | Spain | 148,480 | 126 |
| 12 | 12 | Northwestern University: Kellogg | US | 168,608 | 103 |
| 13 | 9 | University of Cambridge: Judge | UK | 162,143 | 100 |
| 14 | 14 | HKUST Business School | China | 158,119 | 112 |
| 15 | 16 | Yale School of Management | US | 166,458 | 114 |
| 16 | 19 | Dartmouth College: Tuck | US | 170,706 | 110 |
| 17 | 25 | Cornell University: Johnson | US | 161,029 | 123 |
| 18 | 25 | National University of Singapore Business School | Singapore | 143,917 | 134 |
| 19 | 21 | Duke University: Fuqua | US | 156,876 | 101 |
| 20 | 20 | Esade Business School | Spain | 143,542 | 119 |
Notable trends this year include the popularity of two-year MBAs – they occupy nine out of the top10 places. These programmes either maintained their positions or rose in the rankings whereas one-year programmes most fell from their positions (14 up and 21 down).
Asian schools also shone in this year’s ranking. Fifteen, a record-breaking number, of schools in the region are ranked in the 2018 edition.
The China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) is Asia’s best business school. The relatively unknown institution first entered the ranking at 92nd spot in 2002. It’s now in the top ten, beating the HKUST Business School and National University of Singapore Business School.
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Despite having the smallest salary ($91,000) and the smallest salary increase from pre-MBA levels (44 percent), the Copenhagen Business School made history by being the first Danish School in FT’s ranking.
“CBS has a fantastic programme, particularly for more mature professionals who want to develop,” said one graduate.
Meanwhile, the Merage School of Business at the University of California is the first business school where there are more women than men in faculty in all 20 years of of FT’s rankings. Other ranked schools only have an average of 28 percent women in faculty.
To make it onto the list, schools have to meet FT’s entry criteria, including being accredited by Equis or the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).
8,300 alumni from the class of 2014 completed FT’s survey on eight out of the 20 different criteria in the ranking, which constitutes 59 percent of its weight. The remaining criteria are based on school data and research.
