The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business has ranked first for the sixth time in the past seven years in The Economist’s Which MBA? ranking of full-time MBA programmes.

Booth regained first place from neighbouring Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management which slipped to number two this year.

American institutions still dominate the business-school landscape. This year they hold 16 of the top 20 places in The Economist’s ranking of full-time MBAs, and 53 places in the top 100. Harvard Business School, University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University held third, fourth and fifth places respectively.  
The rankings weight data according to what students tell us is important. The figures are a mixture of hard numbers and subjective marks given by students and alumni in four categories: opening new career opportunities (35 per cent), personal development and educational experience (35 per cent), better pay (20 per cent) and networking potential (10 per cent).

Students rate Booth’s course the best of the 100 programmes surveyed. They also praise its world-class facilities and faculty, which includes several Nobel laureates. Job opportunities are among the best, thanks to a highly rated careers service and an alumni network of 52,500 people, one of the largest in the world.

Employment outcomes are outstanding: 97 per cent of students find a job within three months of graduation. Graduates pocket an average salary of $129,400, a 67 per cent rise on their pre-MBA pay cheques. The relationship with alumni lasts beyond graduation. The school runs refresher courses for former students on subjects such as entrepreneurship.

While the ranking continues to be dominated by US schools, this year’s top ten includes one from Europe, IESE in Spain. IESE, at the University of Navarra, moved up 11 places to sixth, mainly because of a big boost in the average salary for its graduates to $123,000 and a job-placement rate of 99 per cent.

“This year’s Economist Which MBA? ranking underlines the strength of big, prestigious American schools. Yet visa restrictions and an unfriendly political environment means that they face increasing competition from European programmes that offer high-quality teaching and shorter, cheaper courses to a growing number of international students,” said Jane Shaw, editor of The Economist’s Which MBA?

Over the past 30 years, Which MBA? has surveyed over 170,000 MBA students. The rankings examine full-time programmes on their ability to deliver to students the things that they themselves cite as most important. It weights each element according to the average importance given to it by students surveyed over the past five years. These include career opportunities, personal development/educational experience, earning potential and networking potential. – TradeArabia News Service