QS Executive MBA Rankings methodology

The QS Executive MBA Rankings combine input from thought leaders in business & management alongside the perceptions of global employers who recruit from the world’s best EMBA programmes, and is further enhanced by programme-specific indicators. 

In order for a school to be eligible, two preconditions must be met:

• Schools must have at least one graduating class
• Schools must have either AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS or EPAS accreditation
• There must be at least 20 people in the class on average

While these preconditions are essential, it can nonetheless be difficult to define exactly what should be classified as an Executive MBA. One guarantee of a programme being an EMBA despite issues with naming or description, is the programme being registered with the Executive MBA Council.

EMBAs that follow all preconditions can still feature technical aspects that make their classification potentially problematic. For example, one school may offer multiple EMBA classes across multiple campuses. In cases such as these, the classes are considered as being one entry for the purposes of the ranking. This includes schools such as Wharton.

Data Collection

Data is collected from two long-standing QS surveys; the QS Global Employer Survey & the QS Academic Survey. The responses from these surveys span a total of five years, with responses from more recent years having greater weighting. In addition to these surveys, schools were asked to submit data relating to their EMBA programmes covering a variety of topics.

In addition to these two surveys, the ranking also considers:

• Executive Profile: Average years' work experience, managerial experience and c-suite experience
• Career Progression: Salary uplift after graduation, percentage of students promoted within a year of graduation
• Diversity: Representation of women within class cohort and number of nationalities among a programme's students

Learn more about how each metric of the methodology is calculated.