Top universities for master's in finance

The QS Business Master’s Rankings 2024 includes the QS master’s in finance rankings which shows the 204 institutions that are ranked among the world’s best for master’s in finance degrees. These include 65 institutions in the US and 30 in the UK. 

The rankings are assessed based on a methodology that looks at five metrics: value for money, thought leadership, employability, diversity and alumni outcomes. Click here to learn more about the methodology. 

Read on as we discover the top 10 business schools for master’s degrees in finance.

73 of the top universities to study a master’s in finance are from North America. 65 of these are found in the US including three entries to the global top 10: MIT Sloan, UC Berkeley Haas and UCLA Anderson. Outside of the top 10, Texas McCombs (27th), USC Marshall (30th) and Florida Warrington (31st) all rank very well. 

In Canada, there are nine universities featured in the rankings. The highest scoring of these is Toronto Rotman (15th) which receives its highest score in the alumni outcomes indicator. This is followed by McGill Desautels (20th), HEC Montréal (=95th) and Alberta School of Business (101-110). 

There are 90 universities that offer this course in Europe. The highest number of these are found in the UK, 30 in total, with four entries featured in the global top 10 and a further four schools featured in the top 50: Imperial College Business School (13th), Warwick Business School (19th) and Manchester Alliance (26th) and University of Edinburgh Business School (29th). 

France has 15 schools offering master’s degrees in finance. Two of these, HEC Business School (joint first) and ESSEC Business School (seventh), rank within the global top 10. Another four schools feature in the top 50: ESCP Europe (14th), EMLyon Business School (17th), EDHEC Business School (21st) and SKEMA Business School (28th). 

Spain has nine schools. The highest-ranking of which, IE Business School (11th), receives its highest score in the value for money indicator, but also scores well in the thought leadership, employability and alumni outcome indicators.  

In Italy, there are five schools offering master’s degrees in finance, including Bocconi University (10th) which makes it into the top 10. Outside of the top 10, Politecnico di Milano (=70th) also ranks within the top 100. Germany also has five schools in the rankings including three entries in the top 50: WHU Otto Beisheim (24th), EBS Business School (47th) and Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (48th). 

Portugal has four entries this year. Their highest-ranked institution, Nova School of Business (38th), ranks within the top 50 globally and scores particularly well for thought leadership, highlighting their focus on innovation and new ideas when studying the financial landscape. 

In the Nordic region, Sweden, Norway and Denmark have one university entry each. The highest-ranked of these is Denmark’s Copenhagen Business School (12th) which ranks within the top 20 globally, followed by BI Norwegian Business School (42nd) and Lund Business School (=50th) which all rank within the top 50. 

Both Belgium and Ireland have three universities that offer a master’s degree in finance. Belgium’s highest-ranked university, Vlerick Business School (40th), earns its highest score in the value for money indicator. Ireland’s highest-ranked school, Trinity College Dublin (34th), scores well for diversity. 

Greece, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland each have two entries. The best of these is Switzerland’s University of St. Gallen (22nd), followed by Erasmus RSM (25th) in the Netherlands, SGH Warsaw School of Economics (67th) in Poland and Athens University of Economics and Business (121-130) in Greece. 

Austria, Czechia and Lithuania each have one school in the rankings this year. Austria’s WU University (16th) ranks the highest of these, followed by University of Economics Prague (141-150) in Czechia and Vilnius University (151+) in Lithuania.