1. Introduction

QS TopMBA.com International Recruiter Survey 2007 reflects recruiters’ preferences and is not a ranking. The QS approach distinguishes itself from rankings by simply identifying which are the most popular schools in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America with international recruiters. QS asked international recruiters to select the schools they consider for MBA hiring. Recruiters that focus on domestic hiring are not included in the survey and QS recognises that many excellent schools that cater predominantly for their local recruitment market may, therefore, not appear in the tables.

QS believes that recruiters and HR decision makers worldwide have among the most objective and informed opinions as to which are the “best” business schools. When an HR department selects a business school, to sponsor an employee on an MBA programme, the decision will often be the result of an intensive research exercise, evaluating the strength of faculty, the facilities and the relevance of the course to the employee and the company’s needs.
 
Similarly, when HR managers choose from which business schools to recruit, they will draw from a wide range of information sources. They will evaluate their experience of MBA alumni currently working at the firm and canvass their opinions; they will assess the quality and efficiency of schools’ career services and the reputation of the school, globally and locally. HR decision makers look beyond rankings and examine the facilities, the course content and the quality of students. The better the performance within an organisation of MBAs recruited from particular schools, the more likely those schools are to feature well in this research. Year on year, this survey reveals remarkable consistency in school selection by many of our recruiter respondents. Allegiance to particular schools is not gained or lost by one good or bad student, but by a sustained experience over several years.

International MBA recruiting is no longer the domain of a few prestigious US and European companies. A growing number of HR managers in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe are informed about MBA education. Managers in these regions have also been asked to share their views on the schools they would prioritise for MBA hiring. In today’s global economy, an HR manager in a large organisation anywhere in the world is expected to be informed and knowledgeable about the MBA marketplace. All will find this research useful. An MBA education and MBA career opportunities have become truly global, attracting as much interest in Beijing and Buenos Aires, as they do in Boston or Birmingham. Many companies, in banking, consulting, healthcare, utilities, transportation, technology, telecoms and other sectors, continue to favour an MBA education, both for their own executives and as a source of new talent.

In recognition of the global dimension, QS research chooses to present the Global Top 100 Business Schools not as a list of the top 100 worldwide, but as the top 40 in each of North America; the top 32 in Europe, the top 23 in Asia Pacific and the top 5 in Latin America (Total 100). The authors believe that this is a better reflection of recruitment needs worldwide.

No overall definitive ranking is drawn from the QS TopMBA.com International Recruiter Survey 2007 because many factors must be considered when evaluating business schools. For example, the quality of students can also be inferred from average GMAT scores and years of work experience. Other factors to be considered include the facilities, teaching methods, areas of specialisation, success of alumni and the activities of the alumni networks. It is the opinion of the report authors that no research has yet managed to produce a ranking of business schools that adequately incorporates all these factors. In an ideal world, what each person really wants is the ability to create his or her personal ranking. The reader may wish to create his or her own preferred list of business schools, taking into account these and personal criteria.

The facility to rank international business schools worldwide now exists. Building on its considerable expertise in this field, QS has created Scorecard, an interactive online tool that enables you to identify institutions that meet your personal criteria worldwide and it costs nothing to use at www.topmba.com/scorecard. More than 100,000 candidates have already used Scorecard. The database of schools and universities represented is now exceeds 300 and growing all the time as institutions see what high quality students contact them through it. Sophisticated web-based technology allows you to apply weightings to more than thirty criteria including programme strength, faculty quality, return on investment, reputation with recruiters, and specialisations, to create your own ranking and find the best match for you.