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FT European Business School rankings 2017

During these uneasy times, Europe is striving for some stability, which is provided by top European business schools. Since the previous year, the top 14 list hasn’t changed, save for some minor alterations in placement.

General Rankings and Their Participants

For the fourth consecutive year, London Business School has taken the first place in this ranking. This university offers a wide range of programs taking part in rankings, and it’s not likely to give away its prized spot on the list.

The 2017 Financial Times European Business School Ranking makes lists of business schools based on their graduate and postgraduate programs. All in all, the ranking includes 95 business schools with their MBA, EMBA and Masters in Management programs. The top MBA program belongs to INSEAD, but its joint EMBA with Tsinghua University (China) has been driven to the second place by London Business School. The Masters in Management ranking is headed by the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). Another Swiss school, IMD, along with IESE (Spain), stays at the top spot for executive education (custom programs).

Joint Programs Are Becoming More Popular

Warwick Business School has taken the 15th place, up from 22nd in 2016. This place is shared with Cass (London), which went up from 26th, and Mannheim Business School (Germany), which rose from the 19th spot. Mannheim Business School was the first to enter the ranking with joint programs only – with Tongji University (China) and Essec (France – Singapore).

The three upper spots in EMBA programs belong to joint courses. Two of them involve London Business School, and INSEAD participates in one of them. Joint programs are increasing in popularity.

Mannheim Business School president, Jens Wustermann, said that joint programs represent some of the finest EMBAs. This is due to the student’s desire to study in different countries simultaneously. Executive MBAs want global experience. This thought is supported by students’ opinions. For instance, a joint London Business School (UK), Columbia (US) and the University of Hong Kong (China) program graduate believes that her experience was very ‘enlightening’, as it involved three continents. In her opinion, the best perspective is the international one.

The Variety of Graduate Jobs

European business school graduates mostly work in banking and finance, as well as consulting. Still, alumni who returned to their native countries and those who stayed where they studied have entered different industries. Those who stayed work mainly in consulting, logistics and IT. Those who left have mostly found jobs in finance, then consulting and then IT.

In different countries, the percentage of staying and leaving graduates varies. For instance, 8% of Polish alumni went abroad, whereas in Spain this percentage is closer to 81%. This is mainly due to student demographics in different parts of Europe. Polish business schools mostly attract Polish students, but in Spain, the majority of business school students are from Latin America.

This year, the biggest rise in terms of ranking spots was made by Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (from 55th to 35th). It was a first-timer in executive education and Masters in Management.

All in all, the ranking was joined by 6 new universities, representing such countries as France, Italy, the UK, Portugal and Belgium. The best performance among the first-timers – taking the 80th place – was given by ISCTE Business School (Lisbon, Portugal).

Learn more about top business schools on MBA25 event in Kyiv!

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