Financial Times Global 2010 MBA Rankings

The Financial Times published today its 2010 ranking of global MBA programs. Its ranking attempts to “assess the effect of the MBA on … subsequent career progression and salary growth.” Consequently it draws its data from the schools themselves and from surveys of graduates at least three years after earning their MBA degree. In building its rankings, FT analyzes “alumni salaries and career development; the diversity and international reach of the business school and its MBA programme; and the research capabilities of each school.” For complete information on FT’s methodology, please see “Getting to Grips with the Method.”

Rather than list all my important caveats for using rankings, I’ll simply refer you to our MBA Rankings Report.

The best business schools according to FT:

I have long argued that far more valuable than the overall rankings are the specialty rankings. Here are FT’s specialty rankings:

Top for international business
1 Thunderbird School of Global Management
2 University of South Carolina: Moore
3 Georgetown University: McDonough
4 Insead
5 George Washington University
6 Hult International Business School
7 IMD
8 Manchester Business School
9 University of Southern California: Marshall
10 London Business School

Top for finance
1 University of Chicago: Booth
2 New York University: Stern
3 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
4 Rice University: Jones
5 University of Rochester: Simon
6 London Business School
7 Columbia Business School
8 Macquarie Graduate School of Management
9 University of Iowa: Tippie
10 University of Toronto: Rotman

Top for accountancy
1 Brigham Young University: Marriott
2 University of Chicago: Booth
3 University of Texas at Austin: McCombs
4 New York University: Stern
5 Macquarie Graduate School of Management
6 University of Rochester: Simon
7 Cornell University: Johnson
8 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
9 Rice University: Jones
10 Texas A & M University: Mays

Top for entrepreneurship
1 Babson College: Olin
2 Stanford University GSB
3 Imperial College Business School
4 UCLA: Anderson
5 University of California at Berkeley: Haas
6 MIT Sloan School of Management
7 University of Cambridge: Judge
8 IMD
9 Wisconsin School of Business
10 Insead

Top for economics
1 University of Chicago: Booth
2 Cranfield School of Management
3 MIT Sloan School of Management
4 Yale School of Management
5 University of Rochester: Simon
6 Imperial College Business School
7 Melbourne Business School
8 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
9 IE Business School
10 New York University: Stern

Top for corporate social responsibility
1 University of Notre Dame: Mendoza
2 University of California at Berkeley: Haas
3 Yale School of Management
4 Ipade
5 University of Virginia: Darden
6 Brigham Young University: Marriott
7 Esade Business School
8 University of Michigan: Ross
9 University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler
10 Thunderbird School of Global Management

Top for general management
1 University of Virginia: Darden
2 Harvard Business School
3 Ipade
4 Dartmouth College: Tuck
5 IMD
6 University of Michigan: Ross
7 University of Western Ontario: Ivey
8 Northwestern University: Kellogg
9 Stanford University GSB
10 Duke University: Fuqua

Top for marketing
1 Northwestern University: Kellogg
2 Duke University: Fuqua
3 Indiana University: Kelley
4 Ipade
5 Esade Business School
6 Wisconsin School of Business
7 Imperial College Business School
8 University of Michigan: Ross
9 HEC Paris
10 Cornell University: Johnson

By Linda Abraham, President and Founder of Accepted.com.

Katie Stoeller

Glad to see Thunderbird ranked so well for their International Business MBA – http://thunderbird.edu/. I’ve been looking at International Masters programs and Thunderbird has been on the top of my list. I’ve also heard they are known for good outcomes from networking as a student, which I think could be very beneficial as a student and in the long run.
Linda Abraham

SAMI,

Yes Stanford and Wharton are also excellent general management programs, as are Kellogg, INSEAD, and Haas, in no particular order.

Best,
Linda
Linda Abraham

Piyush,

They measure very different things and consequently have very different results. In looking at the rankings it is imperative that you understand their methodologies. Otherwise they are truly useless.

You an either look at both ranking's methodologies on their websites on check out our ranking report, which summarizes the methodologies.

Best,
Linda
SAMI

Linda,

ignore the ranking, would you please recommend or mention the best 10 schools globally in MBA with general management focus. Yes, it is obvious that Harvard, IMD, Tuck, Darden, and Ross are very strong in this area, but I am interesting to know more? do stanford and wharton strong enough in general management??
Piyush

I wanted to know why there are some huge differences between FT and BW rankings. For example, SMU Cox is ranked as 12th by BW but 96th by FT.

Best,
Piyush
Linda Abraham

It's not that one is better than the other. The MS if for early career applicants with one year or less of full-time work experience. The Global EMBA program is for people far more advanced in their careers.

Best,
Linda
Chirodeep

I am confused of Global MBA and Masters In Management as referred to the ranking of THE FINANCIAL TIMES(FT).
Which one is better?
James Morgan – Puritan Financial Advisor

Its ranking attempts to "assess the effect of the MBA on … subsequent career progression and salary growth.
Linda Abraham

Inderjot,

The MBA doesn't focus on international business and the Masters in International Business focuses on business between companies and on a global scale. It's a matter of focus and emphasis.

It's not that one is intrinsically better than other. One will be better than the other for some goals and the other will be better for other goals. In general, the MBA is more widely recognized and has increasingly taken on the ability to be a global MBA because business is so global.

Best,
Linda
Inderjot

I wanted to know that what is the difference between MBA and Master of International Business. Also, which one is better of the two?
César Mejía

Do you really want to know which are the best business schools? Go to see where top executives go to take Management Programs, in many cases only one by country, like in Spain for instance.