Over the past couple of days several events took place. One of the most relevant to the MBAs (mainly applicants!) was the release of the FT Rankings for the year 2008.
This year’s rankings show some very interesting trends.
First and most visible developments was that London Business School jumped three notches within the top 10 and is now second only to Wharton!! Kudos LBS! INSEAD also progressed a notch to No. 6.
On a broader view, European B-schools have improved their rankings and two new European B-schools invaded the Top 10 space:
- Institute de Empressa (IE) of Spain which jumped from 11th to 8th rank.
- Judge Business School (Cambridge) which jumped 5 notches from 15th to the 10th rank.
As a result, NYU, Tuck and Yale are out of the top 10. Kellogg is down to 24!!
So is this a European invasion or do they have an unfair home advantage (FT is a European Business Daily). In case the former is true, it reflects the growing stature of europe (especially EU) in international trade.
Is it also a trend that hints that American B-schools are getting complacent? Well only time will tell. US is still clearly the favorite destination to pursue a business education. But the lack H1 B visas is now denting the popularity of american business education.
An another interesting development is the stellar performance of Asian business schools. China’s CEIBS held on to its 11th position, Hong Kong UST returned to the FT table at No. 17. Singapore’s Nanyang business school improved its performance jumping a whopping 20 positions to 46. The other leading Singaporean B-school (NUS) got edged out of the top 100. While India’s sole entry to the FT ranking , the Indian School of Business made a spectacular debut at #20 with the highest weighted salary of US$ 169,355! The Asian crusade is picking steam and in the years to come it may cause a few upsets. 
Other notable debuts were Strathclyde at #30, Shanghai Jiao Tong University(ACEM, China) at #41 and Vlerick Leuven Gent (Belgium) at 97.
B-schools that have demonstrated the most significant improvement in rankings over a three year period are:
Judge Business School, Cambridge at #10 (2006 ranking # 35)
HKUST #17 (#47)
Australian Grad School of Management #39 (#75).
Edinburgh University Management School # 44 (#82)
Nanyang Business School Singapore #46 (unranked)
These are perhaps valuable indicators for prospective MBA students and hopefully would help choose ur B-school.
Is it me or do the rankings seem particularly controversial this year? I know a lot of American schools are getting quite irritated by the rise up the tables of European and Asian programmes. It’ll be interesting to see if 2008 is just a one-off or whether the trend will continue for several more years – in which case, will the overall value of a US MBA versus a European or Asian one depreciate significantly, or will certain schools be able to hold onto their status by reputation alone. I’m going to post another link to your blog at http://www.find-mba And if you want to post something on the discussion board I’m sure there are lots of people who’d be interested to hear your views.
You missed Cass Business School, London.
2006 ranking was 73.
This year its 41.
Cheers.
[...] invasion or do they have an unfair home advantage (FT is a European Business Daily), wonders Stuart Little gets an MBA at St. Gallen. The blogger goes on to ask whether American B-schools are getting complacent, since though the [...]