The Global Asia executive MBA program (a joint project by Columbia Business School, London Business School and the University of Hong Kong) has taken the second place in the Financial Times EMBA rankings (2017) after entering the list for the first time.
This hasn’t happened before: usually, newcomer schools don’t rank as high in their first year on the list.
This new EMBA program was second only to Kellogg/HKUST’s program, which kept the first spot from the previous year’s rankings. Kellogg’s EMBA has been number one for eight years. Its straight record was broken only once – by the joint Tsinghua University/INSEAD’s program – two years ago. This year, the former winner is in the third place.
The top-5 is rounded by two other joint EMBAs offered by universities from different parts of the world: Global Americas & Europe EMBA (Columbia and LBS) is the fourth, and Trium (HEC Paris, LSE and NYU Stern) is the fifth. Truim had the first spot back in 2014. Another first participant – MIT Sloan’s EMBA – had a good start, possessing the 11th place in the rankings.
EMBAs: Salaries, Careers and Satisfaction
Executive MBA programs usually consist of modules, which allows students to continue working while coming to class no more often than once a month. The FT EMBA rankings are based on polls conducted among business schools and their graduates (class of 2014).
One of the highest average salaries in the world was reported by the graduates of the EMBA-Global Asia program and equals $319,000. According to the alumni, it’s 78% higher than their pre-EMBA salary. The same program holds one of the top-20 places for alumni career experience before entering the program, and for progress in their careers. More than 80% of 2014 alumni have worked their way up to senior executive jobs. Their satisfaction rate (83%) is one of the highest. This program’s graduates have taken advantage of the opportunity to study and gain experience across three parts of the world. According to international course experience, Global Asia ranks 7th.
Global Asia graduates say that adding the Hong Kong university to the joint program was a brilliant decision, as it helped students see the development of business in Asian countries.
The largest average salary was reported by Kellogg/HKUST graduates, at $478,000. Their satisfaction level equals 82%, which is one of the highest in the rankings. Many alumni point out that the faculty of this joint program is very skilled and qualified; they are able to combine theory and practice in just the right way.
Best Progress In The Rankings
The biggest progress in the rankings was made by HEC Lausanne. In 2016, it moved seven notches down, but this year, it not only regained its position, but rose 26 spots higher and is now 70th. Actually, at the lower half of the list, places change with every year. There are nine top schools that have just entered the rankings or went back to the top-100 after a failure in 2016. One of them is Ross Michigan School of Business (36th place). Melbourne Business school (60th) and NHH (88th) were ranked for the first time since 2010.
Graduates say that completing an EMBA degree is a highly demanding task, as you’ll need not only sufficient financing, but also certain personal qualities. To keep in balance the course schedule and practical task, as well as family life and a full-time job is not an easy thing to do.
Several programs take pride in their opportunities to study across several continents. For instance, Rotman’s Omnium EMBA is studied on five continents, and graduates acknowledge it can sometimes be very frustrating: it’s not easy to attend classes when jet-lagged.
Diversity In EMBA Programs
The first spot in gender balance belongs to CUHK Business School: 49% of its EMBA students were women. For other top-100 business schools, the results were a bit underwhelming: the average inclusion of female students is at a rather poor level of 29%. Still, only five years ago CUHK had only 25% of women.
A majority of women can be seen only in two EMBA programs: University of Hong Kong and BI Norway/Fudan University.
The faculty body of most EMBA programs, however, cannot boast much gender balance: on average, only 24% of teachers are female. Surprisingly, one of the top-10 schools in gender diversity is The Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria (South Africa), although it has one of the lowest rankings in terms of internationality.
Join MBA25 event in Madrid to learn more about the best business education!
Back to top