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There have been some big changes to the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking in 2023. Here’s a rundown of those changes and their meaning for the ranking.
According to the FT Global MBA Ranking 2023, these are the top 10 MBA programs in the world:
The Financial Times altered its ranking methodology in 2023, leading to big changes in the final list. This article will look at what’s new in the ranking, what’s changed, and how those changes have impacted the ranking.
But first, let’s examine the significance of the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking.
The Financial Times Global MBA Ranking is one of the world’s most-read and most-respected business school rankings. It was first launched in 1999, and in 2023 it marks its 25th year.
To be eligible for the ranking, a business school must be accredited by either AACSB or EQUIS. Only full-time MBA programs are eligible, and the program must have been running for at least three years. Only English language programs are considered, and each cohort must contain at least 30 students.
Unlike other MBA rankings, including the U.S. News MBA Ranking, the Financial Times list comprises business schools worldwide. And in 2023, the ranking could be more important than ever.
The reasons for that are twofold. First, the number of global MBA rankings is dropping. The Economist, announced it would halt its own global ranking from September 2022. Additionally, Forbes has not published a list since 2019. This means that in 2023, the Financial Times may be the only major global MBA ranking published.
Second, the Financial Times has updated its methodology in a significant way.
The Financial Times has made several changes to its methodology for the 2023 ranking. The following categories are new for this year:
The following indicators have been removed from the ranking methodology:
As well as these changes, the Financial Times has changed the weighting of a number of different indicators. Here’s a breakdown of all of them.
An alumni survey makes up 56% of the total weighting of the FT Global MBA Ranking, an increase from 54%. Here are the different categories in the 2023 survey, with the previous year’s weighting in brackets.
As you can see from the list above, the main changes to the 2023 ranking have come in the salary categories. The overall weighting of salary in the ranking has decreased from 40% to 32%.
The other significant changes to the 2023 methodology came from the two new categories: alumni network rank and sector diversity rank.
The Financial Times also collects data directly from participating schools. Here are the 11 indicators, with the previous year’s weighting in brackets.
Broadly speaking, the school data has taken some of the focus away from international dimensions. Instead, equality and sustainability have taken on greater importance in the 2023 ranking.
It should also be noted that in 2023, the FT made it easier for schools to rank in the ESG category. Instead of only judging schools based on whether it teaches ESG topics, it now also rates a school based on the time it spends “instructing how organizations can reach net zero.”
The final 10% of the weighting is calculated using something known as the FT research rank. In effect, this measures the research output of a school by counting the number of articles published by full-time faculty in a selection of academic journals.
With so many changes to the ranking methodology, the 2023 list looks very different from the previous year’s. IE Business School, for instance, jumped 18 places from 40th to 22nd. IESE Business School rose seven places from 10th to 3rd. Both schools performed well in the three new ranking indicators (alumni network, sector diversity, carbon footprint), with IESE finishing in the top 10 in all of them.
On the other hand, London Business School fell to 16th from 8th in the ranking, despite an increase in average alumni salary. HEC Paris fell from 11th to 17th despite also registering a salary increase.
The issue is that both schools could have performed better in the new ranking categories. LBS finished outside the top 30 in all four categories, while HEC Paris finished as high as 6th in sector diversity, but as low as 53rd in carbon footprint.
Evidently, an increase in alumni salary alone is no longer enough to improve a school’s ranking. Schools must improve across the board to climb the ranking, with diversity and sustainability increasingly important.
Salary is less critical to the FT ranking than before – but we shouldn’t understate its importance. It still makes up one-third of the total weighting, and a hefty salary increase, more often than not, will lead to a ranking increase.
For example, the University of Maryland Smith School of Business rose 28 places in this year’s ranking (the largest rise) and saw a 10% increase in alumni salary. Other big risers such as EDHEC (+26), Rotterdam School of Management (+23), and the UT Dallas: Jindal (+22) all saw similar increases in average alumni salary.
An increase in alumni salary is no longer the golden ticket it once was to a ranking boost – but it’s still the most important factor in the FT ranking.
The Wharton School of Business has topped the FT Global MBA Ranking 11 times in 25 years, making it the most successful school in the ranking’s history. But in 2023, it dropped out of the ranking entirely. This was because the school failed to meet the minimum 20% response rate required for the alumni survey.
This disappearance appears to be down to the disgruntlement of the COVID generation of Wharton graduates. They weren’t happy with how the school handled the pandemic. More than 1,000 Wharton MBA students signed a petition for Dialogue on Tuition Relief and/or Other Assistance.
However, other US schools fared better than Wharton, and the US still dominates the top positions. Columbia Business School finished top of the ranking for the first time in its history, while UC Berkeley: Haas and Cornell: SC Johnson both broke into the top 10. Duke Fuqua, meanwhile, rose from 19th to 11th.
Now more than ever, it’s essential to dig deeper into the ranking to understand why schools are ranked the way they are.
In the 2023 ranking the Financial Times shifted some of the focus away from salary and towards diversity & sustainability. If these things matter to you, it might be worth taking more notice of the FT ranking. Use it to target schools based on some of the new ranking indicators.
But ultimately, the key to finding the right MBA program is finding one that helps you meet your own goals. There’s no use targeting one of the top schools in the ranking if it’s not the program that enables you to achieve your goals – both in your personal life and career.
Reach out to an MBA ambassador to find out how they found their perfect program.
