3. Survey Sample and Methodology

The 2007 survey represents one of the largest exercises QS has undertaken in terms of geographic scope and level of detail. More than 4000 recruiters were surveyed, with complete responses received from 489 companies in a record 37 countries. This year’s survey represents the best balanced so far in terms of worldwide geographical distribution. This represents 50% more recruiter respondents than any other MBA survey and up to five times the level of non-US respondents than any other MBA survey. The recruiters span industry, consulting, financial services and technology, among other sectors and participate in strict confidentiality. Therefore the names of individual recruiters are not published.

Table 3.2 shows the spread of recruiters across industries. This reflects the global spread of industries, which hire MBAs. Finance, banking and consulting make up the largest sources of respondents, followed by healthcare, technology, and consumer goods. Respondents from the Agency/headhunting industry are asked to indicate the sectors for which they are hiring – this was fairly evenly spread, with a slight bias towards financial services.

45% of respondents were based in North America, 27% in Western Europe, 7% in Eastern Europe, 16% in Asia Pacific, 5% in Latin America, and <1% in the Middle East and Africa.

Chart 3.3: Recruiter Response by Geography 

Source: TopMBA.com International Recruiter Survey 2007

To identify the Global Recruiters’ Top 100 Business Schools, each company in the QS TopMBA.com Recruiter Survey is asked a series of questions about MBA recruiting for the previous year and the forthcoming year. These questions cover:

1. MBA recruitment trends:
   1. Demand for MBAs by sector and region
   2. Skill sets required in MBAs
   3. Job functions hired for
   4. Recruiting methods
2. MBA salaries and benefits
3. Business school ratings based on recruiters’ reported target schools
4. Business school reputations in specialist areas

3.4.1 Recruiter Score

Each recruiter is asked to list, unprompted, the international schools from which they have recently attempted to recruit MBAs. The school appearing at the top of a recruiter list is given a score of two, and all subsequent schools are given a score of one. Recruiter responses are then aggregated and an unprompted score is given to each school.

Recruiters are then asked to identify the schools they regard as attractive for the purpose of MBA hiring from a selection of regions around the world. Schools are divided into regions and recruiters are encouraged to identify all schools from which they might consider recruiting MBAs. They are asked to pick from a list of the 300 schools most often mentioned in the previous year’s research. Each time a school is selected from the list, it is given a score of 1, resulting in a prompted score.
 
The prompted and unprompted scores are added together and the score is indexed against the best performing business school, which is given a score of 100%. This does not affect the relative positions of schools, but only their percentage scores in any given year (this methodology of displaying the recruiter score represents a change from previous years reflecting the growing numbers of respondents and will ensure easier comparison year on year. This percentage score is known as the school’s Recruiter Score. Only recruiters that confirm that the company hires from more than one region of the world, are classified as international MBA recruiters and generate the Recruiter Score in the final results.

3.4.2 Recruiter Position

This research does not intend to infer an overall ranking of schools from the results. The tables list schools in alphabetical order within bands of ten schools. The relative Recruiter Position of schools is displayed, based on their Recruiter Score in that year.

To give context on the quality of students, QS TopMBA.com Research adds information to the tables.

3.5.1 Average GMAT Score

We list the average Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) score for each school featured. The GMAT is taken by almost all MBA candidates seeking admission to business school. It is widely viewed as an objective source of information to compare the quality of candidates.

3.5.2 Average Years of Work Experience

The survey authors are of the opinion that the greater the level of experience of an incumbent class of MBA students, the greater the learning experience for all participants. This is also listed in the tables. Many Deans comment in their opening speech that MBA students will learn as much from each other as they will from their professors. The inference is that the greater the average number of years of work experience, the higher the quality of the student class.

3.5.3  International Profile

The survey authors aim to identify global business schools and as such, identifying the percentage of international students and the percentage of international faculty is an important measure of the global outlook of the school. For example, several US and Asian business schools which feature well amongst recruiters still attract primarily domestic students and faculty and may be of less interest to an international student looking for a truly global experience. This data can be found on topmba.com/scorecard and not within the body of this report.

3.5.4  Career Services Employment Results

The survey authors also wish to identify the employability of MBAs graduating from these business schools. The average salary on graduation, as well as the percentage employed three months after graduation are two key measures accepted by the MBA Career Service Council as valid measures of B-School Career Service performance. This data can be found on topmba.com/scorecard and not within the body of this report.

The authors have undertaken their best efforts to ensure that all data presented in this report is consistently provided by each school subject to MBA Career Service Council Standards (www.mbacsc.org). All North American schools have confirmed they report in line with these standards. All European, Asian and Latin American schools have certified that the data they provide does conform to these standards, but QS has not been able to validate this in all cases (we have undertaken random audits and all such schools have been verified).

When comparing average salaries there are clear limitations – for example, a high number of candidates entering low paying non-profit sectors or entrepreneurial pursuits will adversely affect these average figures. As such we have chosen not to use these figures to contribute towards a ranking, at this time.

These tables are compiled entirely based on the unprompted selection of each school, by responding recruiters anywhere in the world, for each area of specialisation. Recruiters were asked to identify which schools they feel offer the best MBA programme for the specified specialisation. Of the 489 responding employers over 300 expressed opinions on specialisations.

Recruiters were asked to select from ten specialisations: International management, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, information management, operations management, e-business, strategy, corporate governance, leadership.

Finance received more responses than any other specialist field, followed by international management and marketing. For each specialist area, the highest scoring school was given a score of 100% and the remaining schools were indexed against this score. For each specialisation we present the 50 highest scoring schools. Year on year we have seen remarkable consistency in the top ten schools selected for each specialist area, but there is significant variation beyond the top 10.