Harvard Business School stood number one in the FT Global MBA Ranking 2020 after a gap of four years while HEC Paris jumped nine places to rank 9. Otherwise, the Top 10 saw only minor up and down movements.

The ranking is for the full-time residential MBA programs listing 100 B-schools evaluated on eight criteria, namely, Aims Achieved, Careers, Career Service rank, Employment, Recommends, Research, Salary Today and Value.

The United States leads in the number of schools by country with 51 B-schools figuring in the ranking of 100 global institutions. The rest are all in single digits. China and the UK have 9 each, followed by France and India 4 each, Australia, Canada, Germany, Singapore and Spain (3 each), Switzerland (2), France/Singapore, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and South Korea (1 each).

After a Four Year Gap, Harvard Number One in FT Global MBA Rankings 2020

A Reshuffle Among the Top 10

Apart from HBS moving up from its 2^nd rank in the previous year, others in the Top Ten are Wharton School (2), Stanford GSB (3), INSEAD (4), CEIBS (5^th), MIT Sloan (6), London Business School (7), Columbia Business School (8), HEC Paris (9) and Chicago Booth (10).

Wharton moved up two places from being ranked 4^th in 2019. Stanford had topped the rankings in the previous year. INSEAD dropped one place while CEIBS remained unchanged at 5.

MIT Sloan was ranked 8^th in the previous year. LBS dropped one place from 6^th rank. Columbia moved up one spot from its 9^th rank. HEC Paris came up all the way from being ranked 19^th in the previous edition. Booth dropped three spaces from its 7^th rank in 2019. US schools captured 6 places in the Top 10.

How Did the Top 3 Perform?

FT notes that among the factors that favored HBS in the rankings was the rise in a higher average weighted salary from $205,486 last year to $210,110. The salary increase was reported at 110%. It was also named by the alumni of ranked schools, for the 13^th year, as the top choice institution from which they would recruit. It was also commended for a strong alumni base in key industries and a good reputation among peer institutions and employers.

Wharton graduates reported a weighted salary of $211,543, the second-highest in the rankings. The salary increase stood at 107%. Its Value for money rank was 92. It showed considerable improvement in Career progress with a rank of 17. It was at 32 in the previous ranking.  Aims achieved stood at 90% and Career service rank 21. Around 94% of the graduates found employment within three months. The alumni recommended rank was 6.

The school also topped the research ranking, with its full-time staff publishing the largest number of articles in 50 selected academic journals between 2017-2019 (weighted by the size of faculty).

Stanford graduates received a weighted salary of $222,625 and a salary increase of 117%. The value for money rank was 69. The school topped career progress rank. It notched up 90% in aims achieved and was 31 in career service rank. About 88% of graduates found employment within three months.

The alumni recommend rank was 2. Among the negatives were the drop in salary increase (pre-MBA and post-MBA for 3 years) fell from 129% to 117. The value for money rank also dipped from 60 to 69.

Other Notable Achievers in the Rankings

The Laussane, Switzerland-based IMD, ranked at 25, tops in international mobility. The school also has notched up 98% for international faculty as well as students.

However, it is the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University that tops the international students’ category at 99%. However, in the overall ranking, the school fell from 55 to 66 this year. It was ranked 2 in international mobility.

The George Washington University’s School of Business moved up 20 places to rank 70th overall and the same number of spots to rank 75th for career progress. Alumni salaries on an average were 115%t higher compared to pre-MBA and post-MBA earnings for three years. 

Top  20 B-Schools in FT Global MBA Ranking 2020

1. Harvard Business School
2. University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
3. INSEAD
4. Ceibs
5. MIT Sloan
6. London Business School
7. Columbia Business School
8. HEC Paris
9. University of Chicago: Booth
10. Northwestern University: Kellogg
11. University of California at Berkeley: Haas
12. IESE Business School
13. Yale School Of Management
14. National University of Singapore Business School
15. Dartmouth College: Tuck
16. Duke University: Fuqua
17. University of Virginia: Darden
18. University of Cambridge: Judge
19. HKUST Business School
20. University of Oxford: Saïd

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