Global MBA Ranking Comparison of Master of Business Administration Rankings

Published: 13 May 2024 | by Thomas Graf

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Rankings are one way of determining the quality of MBA programs. If a school is ranked highly over a long period of time, it is very likely that the program provides exceptional career opportunities. The most important internationally recognized MBA rankings are provided by the Financial Times, Businessweek, U.S. News and Forbes. In the following, we want to have a closer look at these rankings and their methodology and identify some important differences.

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1. The Financial Times Global MBA Ranking

The FT Master of Business Administration fulltime Ranking covers 100 fulltime programs worldwide (2017 ranking). You can filter the ranking according to several criteria such as aims achieved, careers, employment, placements, recommendations, salary today, and value.

Where does the data come from? The ranking is based on two surveys - one sent to alumni about three years after graduation and the other one sent to the schools' program managers. Overall, questions are asked along 20 criteria. The alumni contribute to 8 of these 20 criteria and the schools to 11. The final criterion is based on publicly available information (research score).
Who contributes most to the ranking? At first glance, it appears that the alumni have less influence on the ranking than the schools because they only contribute to 8 out of 20 criteria. Having a closer look at the weightings, however, reveals a different picture. The alumni answers are weighted by 59 percent of the full survey and the schools' answers only by 31 percent. Hence, the alumni have a greater impact on this ranking than the schools. The research rank accounts for 10 percent of the final score.
Alumni provide data on their salary, from which two variables are calculated: salary increase (20%) and weighted salary (20%); moreover, they provide data on value for money (3%), career progress (3%), aims achieved (3%), career service (2%), alumni recommend (2%) and international mobility (6%).
- Salary: An important criterion for many readers of MBA rankings is the impact of an MBA on students' future salaries. The Financial Times Ranking asks the MBA alumni about this but excludes answers that come from people in non-profit or education-related fulltime jobs - probably because these people earn less than normal business people and would therefore decrease the average salary that an MBA could potentially generate.
- Also, the salary numbers are transformed by the Financial Times according to the Purchasing Power Parity Rates (PPP Rates). As a result, MBA alumni from a specific school may state average earnings of EUR 50,000 - let's assume this is around USD 65,000 - but the Financial Times Ranking shows USD 81,000 because of the PPP Rates.
  Together, the criteria "weighted salary" and "salary increase" account for 40 percent of the total ranking. Again: This information comes from alumni - not from schools - reflecting the strong impact former students have.
Schools provide data on "employed at 3 months" (2%), "female faculty" (2%), "female students" (2%), "women on board" (1%), "international faculty" (4%), "international students" (4%), "international board" (2%), "international course experience" (3%), "languages" (1%), "faculty with doctorates" (5%) and "PhD graduates" (5%)
Research Rank: The Financial Times also takes into account how well a school publishes in top journals (measured by the FT Top-45 list). The underlying rationale is: The more a faculty publishes in top management journals the better its knowledge base and research capacity and potentially the higher the learning impact of the MBA students.

2. The Bloomberg Businessweek MBA Ranking

The Bloomberg Businessweek MBA fulltime Ranking covers 77 US programs and 20 European, 6 Canadian and 7 Asia-Pacific programs (2023-24 Ranking).

Where does the data come from? The Bloomberg Businessweek Ranking is based on four data sources: recent graduates, alumni, business schools, and employers.

Who contributes most to the ranking? Both, recent graduates and alumni together count for 45 percent of the total score. Employers count for 35 percent. Data provided from schools count for 20 percent of the total ranking score.

Content of the ranking: Each school is ranked along five dimensions or sub-rankings that together create the overall score and ranking position: the students' survey, the alumni survey, an employer survey, a job placement rate, and the starting salary.

The students' survey counts for 15 percent of the total score. Here, recent graduates were asked how well they have been prepared for the workforce. In addition to 27 questions that flew into the ranking, also other data was asked for - for instance, on demographics, career paths or budget.
The alumni survey counts for 30 percent of the total score. Here, alumni were asked about their median compensation increase and job satisfaction as well as 16 more MBA feedback questions.
The employer survey counts for 35 percent of the total score. It includes the experience of companies that are actively recruiting on campuses and asks them for the number of MBA students hired or tracks how often a recruiter mentioned a school over the last three rankings.
The job placement rate counts for 10 percent of the total score. This data was provided from schools.
The starting salary counts for 10 percent of the total rate. This data was provided from schools.

3. The U.S. News Graduate School Ranking

U.S. News invites all AACSB-accredited business schools to participate in their best business school and MBA-rankings. For the "Best Business Schools ranked in 2024" ranking, 339 responded and 124 finally were included in the ranking: full-time, in-person and hybrid programs.

The ranking section is a bit confusing as you cannot see a keyword such as "Full-time MBA Rankings". Instead, you either get the Business School ranking that includes evaluations of pre-experience Business Masters and (post-experience) MBA programs. Or you get MBA Rankings for specialities such as accounting or finance. One of these specialities is "management", however.

Where does the data come from?
The data comes from business school deans and directors, corporate recruiters, graduates, and schools. The deans and directors rated all schools or programs of the panel - not only their own school. So did the corporate recruiters. In addition, graduates and school representatives provided information on their own school or program only.
Who contributes most to the ranking?
- The quality assessment of programs provided by deans and directors accounts for 12.5 percent of the ranking score.
- The quality assessment provided by corporate recruiters accounts for 12.5 percent.
- Data on employment rates, starting salary and bonus provided by graduates accounts for 40 percent of the total score.
- The student selectivity data provided by business schools accounts for 25 percent. Also the data for the ranking factor "salary by profession" comes from the business schools and accounts for 10 percent.
- Students therefore have the highest impact (40 percent), followed the schools (35 percent) as well as by deans and directors (25 percent).
Content of the ranking: The U.S. News rates schools along three categories.
- The category "Quality assessment" (25 percent of the total score) includes the quality assessment from business school deans and directors as well as corporate recruiters.
- The category "Placement success" (50 percent of the total score) was provided by graduates and includes the criteria "Mean starting salary and bonus" as well as "Employment rates". Starting salary and bonus only account for 14 percent - as compared to 40 percent in the Financial Times Ranking or 100 percent in the Forbes ranking (salary after 5 years).
- The category "Student selectivity" (25 percent of the total score) was provided by the schools and includes GMAT or GRE scores, undergraduate GPA, and acceptance rates. Hence, the US News is the only ranking - among these five rankings - that includes the GMAT or GRE scores.

4. The Forbes Ranking

The Forbes Business School Ranking differs from the others by solely focusing on the return on investment five years after graduation.

The 2015 US ranking includes 65 two-year MBA programs. Additional rankings include the 11 best one-year international MBA programs and the 11 best 2-year international MBA programs.

Where does the data come from? The data comes only from alumni five years after graduation. Hence, for the 2011 ranking people who graduated in 2006 were asked.
Who contributes most to the ranking? In the Forbes ranking the data stems only from alumni. Hence, neither the schools nor corporate recruiters can influence the data.
Content of the ranking: Forbes sees the MBA program as an investment and calculates the overall return on that investment. For this, they subtract the costs - including forgone compensation, tuition fees, and the fees required, for example, to apply for the program - from alumni earnings to end up with a final "5-year MBA gain".
Link to Best US MBA programs
Link to Best International 1-Year MBA programs
Link to Best International 2-Year MBA programs

Just for the records: The ex-Economist MBA ranking

Also the Economist published an MBA fulltime ranking covering 100 programs worldwide (2016 Ranking). It was possible to filter the ranking by geographic area or country. UPDATE 2022: The Economics closed their WhichMBA site after Sept 30, 2022 and don't create MBA rankings anymore.

Where does the data come from? The Economist Ranking was based on data from two sources: schools and current MBA students or recent MBA graduates. Employers or MBA alumni were not considered for this ranking.
Who contributes most to the ranking? The answers from students and recent graduates were weighted by 20 percent of the total ranking score. The data provided by the schools accounted for 80 percent. Hence, schools had by far the most influence on this ranking.
Content of the ranking: The ranking was based on questions around 13 criteria from four categories:
- The category "Open for new career opportunities" was weighted by 35 percent of the full ranking score and included criteria such as "Diversity of the recruiters" or "Jobs found through the career service".
- The category "Personal development/education experience" was also weighted by 35 percent and included criteria such as "Faculty quality" or "Student quality".
- The category "Increase salary" was weighted by 20 percent and included "How much did your salary increase after graduating?" as well as "Leaving salary".
- Finally, the category "Potential to network" counted for 10 percent of the ranking score and included "Breadth of the alumni network", "Internationalism of alumni" and "Alumni effectiveness".

What does it mean if an MBA-Program is not ranked? Is it a poor quality program?

A program that is not in the ranking is not automatically a poor quality program. Rankings usually have strict eligibility conditions that programs need to fulfill before they can be included in a ranking process. The Financial Times, for example, requires international accreditation and a minimum of four consecutive years in which the programs have been run. Hence, new MBA programs cannot immediately make it into the rankings, even if the school has a great reputation and the program will likely achieve top positions in the coming years.