Best MBA Programmes in Australia: GMMA 2015 MBA Ratings

Queensland and South Australian schools dominate The Graduate Management Association of Australia (GMAA) five star MBA ratings for 2015

The GMAA began assessing MBA programs in the 1990s using similar questions to those used by its UK equivalent body AMBA and the American AACSB.

Deakin University, Griffith University, Monash University, Queensland University of Technology, University of Adelaide, University of Queensland and the University of South Australia are the seven in the five star category in 2015.

However, La Trobe University, RMIT and University of Western Australia, were among those who lost their five star rating this year.

The GMAA Star Rating is considered to be a rigorous and independent assessment of the top Australian MBA programmes.

UniSA Business School’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) was awarded a 5 star rating for the seventh consecutive year.

Dean of Postgraduate and Professional Programs at UniSA Professor Susan Freeman said while not many Business Schools could boast of such an honour, “It is testimony to our team and its commitment to provide the highest quality of education developing applied research and exceptional productive corporate and industry partnerships.”

Griffith MBA Director Associate Professor Chris Fleming said prospective MBA students could get an insight about the quality of the programme through GMAA ratings.

“Like the (AFR) BOSS ranking the GMAA rating is in part due to the success we have had with engaging our students and delivering a high quality program,” he added.

In the BOSS ranking, Griffith’s MBA moved up into the top five for the first time in a list of ten. He credited the success to the programme being restructured and updated to meet the needs of modern, digital-savvy students.

The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) MBA was awarded four stars.

USQ MBA Program Director Associate Professor Jane Summers described it as a testament to the quality of programme and commitment to delivering the best outcomes for students.

She highlighted the flexible nature of the course that allowed students to study online and in their own time and space thus clearly meeting a market niche for postgraduate business education.

“Consistently the message is that online delivery and being able to study anywhere, anytime is very attractive to time-challenged students who choose our MBA,” she said.

The 5 Star Assessment program is designed to assist potential MBA students by providing an independent assessment of the various programs on offer by people who have been through the process.

The GMAA assessment is presented as a table split into five bands with the programmes receiving the highest scores located in the top 5 Star band. Within each band, all programmes are then listed alphabetically. The total score for each programme is not released.