In December 2018, the Financial Times released their latest ranking of the leading European business schools for the year. With a total of 95 ranked institutions, the list provides several interesting insights about trends and movements in higher education on the old continent.
According to the analysis of the publication, this year’s ranking has registered a positive direction for business education in Europe. While the first place for Masters in Management (MiM) programmes has been occupied by the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) for eight years now, the rest of the ranking features diverse host countries and some movement compared to 2017. The overall ranking of the top schools lists universities from 21 countries – one more compared to the 2017 edition thanks to Slovenia’s representation with the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Economics. France, the UK, and Germany are among the well-represented countries in the 2018 ranking of MiM programmes in Europe.
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Methodology
Every ranking is constructed by using different types of data and insights gathered from universities or alumni. In this case, the FT European Business School Ranking uses “the combined performance of Europe’s leading schools across the five main rankings of programmes published by the FT […]: MBA, Executive MBA, Masters in Management (MiM) and the two rankings of non-degree executive education programmes.” This means that the school’s separate rank on each of these formats plays a role for the final place it will take on the European table. While MBA, EMBA, and MiM account for 25% each, the scores obtained for customised and open programmes each account for 12.5% of the school’s rank.
Top in Europe
For the fifth year in a row, London Business School (UK) leads the overall ranking while also scoring third place for its Masters in Management. As a whole, business schools from the United Kingdom feature prominently in the top 25 of the FT European Business School Rankings 2018 with seven British representatives. In comparison, the number of UK schools at the top was six in 2017. According to the publication, the positive trend is especially interesting to follow as the effects of the Brexit vote are still unfolding.
Highest climber
One of the most illuminating features of these rankings in general, and in this particular edition, is the big jumps achieved by some institutions. In 2018, for example, the University of Economics, Prague (Czech Republic) leapt 26 places in the European table. This success is largely attributed to “a strong performance in the ranking of Masters in Management, the degree for those with little or no previous work experience,” authors Jonathan Moules and Wai Kwen Chan explain for the Financial Times. In 2017, another school achieved similar success – the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (Germany) managed to jump to #35 from #55.
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Highest new entrant
Although it does not make the MiM ranking, the Irish Management Institute is the highest ranked new contender in the overall 2018 European Business School Rankings, taking #76. Tum School of Management (Germany) comes a close second as it also managed to score even higher for its MiM programme. In comparison, ISCTE Business School of Portugal was the highest entrant in the 2017 ranking as it was ranked for the first time in the Masters in Management category. In addition, the performance of the Lisbon school in the FT ranking has improved in 2018 as well, as it jumped several places compared to the previous year.
Faculty with the best gender balance
Another important category considered by the Financial Times is gender representation among the faculties of top European business schools. In 2018, ICN Business School (France) was the only institution to report a 50:50 male/female ratio of faculty members. “Schools that achieve this obtain the highest score in the ‘female faculty’ category in the FT business school rankings,” note the authors of the article. Henley Business School (UK) and the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Economics (Slovenia) have also performed very well in this respect, with 49% female faculty. In 2017, the first place for gender balance was taken by DCU Business School (Ireland), whose dean is Professor Anne Sinnott.
Top in Eastern Europe
While in 2017 St. Petersburg University GSOM (Russia) was furthest ahead among Eastern European schools featured in the table, Kozminski University in Poland and University of Economics, Prague in the Czech Republic have managed to rise up in the 2018 ranking significantly. The Russian university also continues to hold a steady increase in its performance although this time it stays behind the Polish and the Czech institutions.
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Do not hesitate to follow the development of the European Business Schools Ranking in the upcoming years and see how currently ranked universities advance while new ones join the elite listing!
