It’s not just the pink colouring of the paper, reliable reporting, and pithy, sharp writing – the Financial Times (FT) MBA rankings also contribute to the publication’s popularity. FT rankings are built on a rigorous mix of alumni salary data, career progression metrics, diversity measures, ESG criteria, and faculty research output, depending on the programme type. Understanding what drives these rankings is the first step to using them well.
Why the rankings?
With the huge diversity of MBA offerings nowadays, business school prospects look for data-driven decisions when selecting where to study. Post-MBA career prospects and ROI are important factors for most MBA-bound professionals. Finally, the brand reputation gained by being listed in a ranking can be essential for some career paths. Not all, however.
Is this “your” ranking?
Although major ones, the Financial Times MBA rankings are just some of many. Different rankings of MBA and Masters in Management programmes employ different methodologies, criteria, pre-selection of the eligible business schools, etc. As selecting your MBA programme affects your overall MBA and post-MBA experience, selecting the right ranking, or whether to consult rankings at all, comes as step one.
Start by gaining an in-depth understanding of the methodology behind each ranking before deciding whether what it measures actually counts for your MBA selection.
What is there for you in the Financial Times MBA rankings?
The Financial Times publishes rankings that span everything from full-time MBA programmes to two-week courses to improve your management skills, listing the best programmes based on a set of strict criteria. The rankings carry so much weight because the Financial Times is one of the world’s premier business newspapers, commanding strong loyalty from its readers.
The Financial Times publishes seven rankings annually, relating to MBA, EMBA, Master in Finance, Master in Management, and Online MBA programmes, as well as non-degree executive education courses. There is also a ranking of top European Business Schools. Previously, the newspaper also published rankings of top MBAs for entrepreneurship, top MBAs for finance, and top MBAs for women.
Below is a description of each of the Financial Times’ five main rankings related to MBA programmes and the one related to the Masters in Management.
The FT Global MBA Ranking
The Financial Times Global MBA Ranking is published in February every year and features the world’s best 100 full-time MBA programmes. To be eligible for inclusion in the FT MBA ranking, schools must be accredited by EQUIS or the AACSB.
As with the rest of the Financial Times’ rankings, alumni opinion plays a major role here. The newspaper surveys alumni three years after completing their MBA. Alumni responses are tied to eight criteria (average income three years after graduation, salary increase compared with pre-MBA salary, etc.) that together contribute 56% of the ranking’s weight. The FT MBA ranking also calculates “value for money” for each school by dividing average alumni salary three years after graduation by the MBA’s total cost, including tuition, opportunity cost, and other expenses.
Information from schools is also collected. School criteria include the diversity of the staff, board members, and students by gender and nationality, and the MBA’s international reach. For gender criteria, schools with a 50/50 composition score highest.
The FT ranking methodology also factors in ESG and sustainability metrics, especially relevant to prospective students today.
The FT Online MBA Ranking
The Financial Times Online MBA Ranking is published in March every year. The participating schools must be internationally accredited and programmes must have run for four consecutive years. At least 70% of the content must be delivered online. The ranking is heavily weighted toward the career progress of alumni, the diversity of the cohort, and the quality of online delivery. The main criteria for career progress are alumni salary three years after graduation and their salary increase compared with pre-MBA levels.
Data are collected through two online surveys – the first completed by participating schools and the second by their alumni. The ranking has a total of 20 criteria. Alumni responses inform nine of them, contributing 60% of the ranking’s total weight. Alumni-informed criteria are based on data collected in the past three years. Data collected from schools inform ten criteria, accounting for 30%.
The FT Executive MBA Ranking
The Executive MBA Ranking is published in mid-October every year. Salary and career progression are central to the ranking. Data are collected using two online surveys, the first completed by participating schools and the second by alumni who graduated three years prior. Alumni responses inform six criteria: salary today, salary increase, career progress, work experience, aims achieved, and the alumni network score. Together they account for 52% of the ranking’s weight. Information provided by the business schools accounts for 38% of the final ranking.
Participation in this Financial Times business school ranking is voluntary and at the school’s request. To participate, institutions must be accredited by either AACSB or EQUIS. In addition, EMBA programmes must be cohort-based and have at least 25 graduates each year.
The FT Masters in Management Ranking
The Financial Times Masters in Management Ranking is published at the beginning of September every year.
The first MiM ranking was published in 2005, listing 25 European schools. The number of schools grew steadily, reaching its current cap of 100 – the maximum in the Financial Times rankings. Cohort sizes among the top-ranked schools vary, ranging from highly intimate, boutique programmes to large, diverse cohorts. Prices also differ widely.
All schools participating in the ranking are either AACSB or EQUIS accredited. The majority of the programmes last for one or two years and are designed for graduates with little or no work experience. Alumni responses contribute 56% of the total weight and school data the remaining 44%. The Financial Times introduced career progress and salary increase metrics to the FT MiM ranking in 2017. Other criteria include international diversity, international mobility, international course experience, and value for money.
The FT European Business School Ranking
The European Business School Ranking is published at the beginning of December. The Financial Times compiles this ranking using a formula based on the combined performance of Europe’s leading schools across the FT MBA, Executive MBA, Masters in Management, and executive education rankings. The online MBA and Masters in Finance rankings are not included.
The Financial Times points out that 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.
Go beyond data – get a feel for your dream MBA
An essential next step after checking stats and facts in the rankings, is to get a feel for the programmes that you are considering, and discover the experience ahead of you in each business school before you apply for admission.
If you cannot visit the MBA campus and sit in on an open class, take every other opportunity to meet business schools’ alumni and admissions officers. Individual meetings face to face or online, Q&As in MBA programme presentations via webinars or panel discussions, and networking with current students, alumni, and faculty members – all of these provide valuable insights to build on your data-driven research of the best MBA options.
Access MBA global tours will enable you to meet privately with admissions directors of many of the business schools ranked by the Financial Times.
For networking and one-to-one meetings with senior business executives, the Premier EMBA tour brings together alumni and admissions decision-makers during private networking cocktail events.
Living in the big-data era calls for data-driven decisions grounded in a clear understanding of how each ranking’s methodology works. However, the MBA is ultimately a very personal experience, so balancing quantitative research with personal exploration is the smartest approach to your MBA selection.
Originally published: 30 November 2018
Updated: 1 June 2026
