FT European Business School Rankings 2018: Methodology and key
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
This is the 15th annual FT ranking of European business schools. It is a composite ranking based on the combined performance of Europe’s leading schools across the five main rankings of programmes published by the FT in 2018: MBA, executive MBA, Masters in Management (MiM) and the two rankings of non-degree executive education programmes. The online MBA and Masters in Finance rankings are not included.
A European schools rank is produced for each of these main rankings. MBA, EMBA and MiM account for 25 per cent each of each school’s total performance. For executive education, the scores obtained for customised and open programmes each account for 12.5 per cent.
The FT has also produced two top-25 rankings for Asia-Pacific and the Americas. The methodology for Asia-Pacific is identical to Europe’s. The FT did not consider the MiM in the US, where there are fewer programmes. The weights there are spread equally between MBA, EMBA and executive education.
The regional rankings measure the schools’ quality and the breadth of programmes. Schools must participate in all five rankings in order to be eligible for a full score. Schools that take part in only one ranking are eligible for a quarter of the total score.
An indexed score is created for each ranking. These scores are then added together, according to the weighting above, creating a combined total for each school. This overall score is divided by the number of rankings in which a school features to calculate an average score — a derived measure of quality. This is added to the combined total score to generate a final score by which the schools are ranked.
Scores are not simply based on aggregation of published ranking positions. They are calculated using Z-scores — formulas that reflect the range between the top and bottom school — for the individual criteria that make up each component ranking.
The following rules are specific to the FT composite European ranking
- Programmes ranked outside the published tables of 100 MBAs and EMBAs are taken into consideration. They are shown with an asterisk.
- Schools ranked with a joint programme receive a proportional share of the programme’s indexed score. For example, Essec gets 50 per cent of the score achieved by its joint EMBA programme with Mannheim.
- If a school has more than one programme in the same ranking, a combined weighted score is awarded. For example, Rotterdam receives 20 per cent of the score achieved by OneMBA and the remaining 80 per cent from its own single programme.
- Finally, to be eligible, schools must have a minimum total weight of 25 out of a possible 100 for all five rankings.
Key
Weights for ranking criteria are shown in brackets as a percentage
MBA
European rank (25): position among European schools that took part in the 2018 FT global MBA ranking.
Salary today $: average alumni salary three years after graduation, US$ by purchasing power parity (PPP). Includes weighted data from the current and two previous years, where available.
Salary increase (%): average difference in alumni salary between pre-MBA and now, three years after graduation.
EMBA
European rank (25): position among European schools that took part in the 2018 EMBA ranking.
Salary today $: average three years after graduation, US$ PPP. Includes weighted data from the current and two previous years, where available.
Salary increase (%): average difference in alumni salary between pre-EMBA and now, three years after graduation.
Masters in Management
European rank (25): position among European schools that participated in 2018 FT MiM ranking.
Salary today $: average salary three years after graduation, US$ PPP. Includes weighted data from the current and two previous years, where available.
Salary increase (%): average difference in alumni salary between graduation and now, three years after graduation.
Executive Education
Open programmes (12.5): position among European schools that participated in the FT ranking of open-enrolment programmes in 2018.
Custom programmes (12.5): position among European schools that participated in the FT ranking of customised programmes in 2018.
Faculty
Female faculty: percentage of female full-time faculty.
International faculty: percentage of full-time faculty whose citizenship differs from country of employment.
Faculty with doctorates: percentage of full-time faculty with a doctoral degree.
Footnotes
# Figures in brackets refer to data from separate joint programme(s) for schools with more than one programme ranked.
† Salary increase from graduation.
‡ Data are provided for information only. Most recently published data or data provided for a ranking are given
* School was ranked outside the final ranking table in 2018.
** School participated in this ranking on the basis of a joint programme only. Underlying score based on proportion of total score.
The heavier horizontal lines denote the pattern of clustering among the schools, based on significant differences in ranking scores. About 200 points separate London Business School at the top from the school ranked number 95. The top 12 business schools from LBS to Warwick Business School form the top group. The second group is headed by University of Cambridge: Judge includes 68 schools. The remaining 15 schools in the third group are headed by Burgundy School of Business.
Judith Pizer of Jeff Head Associates acted as the FT’s database consultant.
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