European Business Schools ranking: profiles

Top school: HEC Paris

HEC Paris is the top European business school for the fourth consecutive year. The school owes its success in this composite table to its good performance in the constituent FT rankings this year. As well as achieving steady alumni salary increases and top spot in both the Open and Custom Executive Education tables, the school was ranked second in Europe in the Masters in Management table, second for EMBAs and fourth for MBAs.

Highest riser: Rennes School of Business

Returning to form, Rennes climbs 31 places to 57th in this ranking. The French school’s success is partly due to its return to the Masters in Management table, ranking 41st in Europe. MiM alumni had an average salary of $64,849 and a pay increase of 45 per cent between completing the course and three years on. It was also in the MiM top three for international course experience, based on students taking part in overseas exchanges and internships lasting at least a month.

Highest new entry: ISEG — Lisbon School of Economics and Management

The Portuguese school is the highest new entrant at 65. ISEG’s rise reflects its appearance in some rankings for the first time this year. One of these is the EMBA, with alumni reporting that the programme helped them develop personally and professionally. ISEG featured for the first time in the global custom and open-enrolment course rankings (short programmes for executives), placed 27th and 35th respectively in Europe.

Top in Scandinavia: Stockholm School of Economics

The Swedish school rose two places to 20th in this table due to improved performance in various categories in the executive MBA and Masters in Management rankings. These included career progression, measuring changes in the level of seniority, and the size of the organisations for which alumni work. SSE is fourth in Europe for masters in management and 31st for the EMBA. “The MBA has given me a great toolkit for future growth as a leader,” said one graduate surveyed for the ranking.

Quick facts

By Sam Stephens

Rank 1: Making history
HEC Paris takes the top spot in the European ranking for the fourth year in a row and a record 11th time overall.

Rank 4: Client focus
Italian school SDA Bocconi is third in Europe for custom executive courses and fifth for the MBA.

European Business Schools Ranking of 2022

See which schools reached our league table of 95 course providers. Plus, read the rest of our coverage here.

Rank 5: Swiss peak
St Gallen continued to dominate the Masters in Management, topping the table for the 12th consecutive year.

Rank 6: Salary hike
Alumni of Iese in Spain and HEC Paris MBA had the joint highest average pay rise, of 124 per cent over their pre-course salary.

Rank 10: Faculty diversity
Spain’s IE, based in Madrid, is one of 10 European FT-ranked business schools to have gender parity (50:50) among full-time faculty.

Rank 11: Global learning
Switzerland’s IMD has the most international full-time faculty, with 98 per cent of academic staff being citizens of other countries.

Rank 15: Top for MBA
France’s Insead has the top-ranked MBA of all European business schools, partly thanks to high alumni salaries, at an average of $186,784.

Rank 17: Short and sharp
Spain’s Esade is among the best in Europe for executive education, at fourth for open and seventh for custom courses.

Rank 21: Highly qualified
Mannheim is one of 31 ranked schools where 100 per cent of their full-time faculty have doctorates.

Rank 23: On the up
Vlerick Business School in Belgium is the highest climber in the top 25, moving up 16 places.

Rank 24: Made it
Portugal’s Nova, in Lisbon, makes the top 25 after coming close in the past two years.