Stanford Tops FT Global MBA Ranking 2018

Stanford Graduate School of Business has grabbed the number 1 rank pushing INSEAD to the 2^nd spot in the Financial Times (FT) Global MBA Ranking 2018.

Significantly, the 2-year full-time MBA programs that seemed to have been on the way out in comparison with the shorter 1-year full-time MBA, has made a strong comeback in this year’s rankings. With the exception of INSEAD that had been at the top in the rankings for two years in succession, all the nine ranks in the top 10 are 2-year programs.

The FT ranking is for individual programs, including the 1 Year MBA of each B-Schools and not B-Schools ranking.

While Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania retains its 3^rd rank, London Business School (LBS) moves up to the 4^th place after dropping to 6^th rank in 2017. Harvard Business School (HBS) is in the 5^th spot, down one place from the previous year. This is Harvard’s lowest rank since 2008.

The FT ranking is for individual programs, including the 1 Year MBA of each B-Schools and not B-Schools ranking.

The University of Chicago Booth is ranked 6^th, followed by Colombia Business School in the 7^th rank, Ceibs 8th, MIT Sloan 9^th and University of California Berkeley Haas in the 10^th rank.

Meanwhile, the Indian School of Business (ISB) slipped to 28 while IIM-Ahmedabad, which was at 29th position last year, dropped to 31. However, IIM-Bangalore climbed to 35^th ran from 49^th in the previous year. IIM-Calcutta too improved its position to rank 78th from 95^th in 2017, sharing the honours with McGill University Desautels, Canada.

However, it was Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University in Houston that made the biggest jump, climbing 19 places to 45.

FT says Stanford has become number one after a gap of six years. Its alumni managed to get a significant salary boost, up nearly $20,000 to $214,000. This is the highest average salary (not adjusted for inflation) since the inaugural ranking in 1999.

The school also got a boost for its focus on personal development. More than a quarter of the latest graduating cohort went for an internship abroad, the highest among ranked US schools, where the average is just 4%. The school ranks 32 overall for international course experience.

While graduates of the class of 2014 at Harvard and LBS managed to draw higher average salaries three years on than the previous cohort (up by about $14,000 to $192,000 and $168,000 respectively, their research ranks dropped significantly, from 3^rd to 16^th for Harvard and 12 to 27 for LBS.

Among the Asian schools, the Shanghai-based Ceibs was the highest ranked in the 8^th spot. The National University of Singapore Business School also climbed eight places to 18. Renmin University of China School of Business was at 39, up four places from 2015. Lee Kong Chian School of Business became the third-ranked school from Singapore and the highest new entrant at 49.

Graduates of the class of 2013 from Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University managed an average salary of $139,000, up $8,000 compared with the previous cohort. The salary rise from pre-MBA levels also increased by 21 percentage points to 118%.

Lancaster University Management School had the biggest fall, dropping 28 places to 70. The graduates from the class of 2014 saw a drop in salary,  down $10,000 to $104,000, three years after graduation.

Financial Times 2018 Global MBA Ranking – The Top 100 Programmes