US Dominates New Survey of Top Business Schools: MBA News

By Tim Dhoul Updated Aug 06, 2014

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Introduction
Alumni network put above management skills

A reader survey into top business schools signals US dominance

Introductory guide to networking at business school

US institutions dominate the results of a fifth annual graduate reputation survey of the world’s top business schools conducted by US website, Business Insider.

75% of the 20 top business schools featuring in the publication’s total list of 50 are located in the US, with schools in Canada and Asia notable by their absence. Indeed, the five remaining places in the top 20 are filled by business schools in Europe, of which four can be found in the UK.

Business Insider top business schools listing

The Business Insider top 10 is led by the same three top business schools as appear at the head of QS’s latest employer rankings for North America. However, the only representative from QS’s leading European institutions to feature here is London Business School – the UK’s LSE doesn’t qualify for inclusion in QS’s listing because it does not offer an MBA program, but rather a two-year pre-experience Master’s in Management (MiM).

Leading schools in Canada and the Asia Pacific, meanwhile, are pushed outside of the Business Insider top 30. Rotman School of Management, the highest-placing school in Canada, comes in at 35th and HKUST, the highest-placing for Asia, is listed at 38th ahead of IIM Ahmedabad in 44th position.

The results are the product of a Business Insider reader survey, which rates the reputation of the graduates from top business schools around the world on a scale of poor to excellent – with a focus on responses from those with experience of hiring MBAs, of which 60% said they possessed the degree (or a comparable qualification) themselves.

Alumni network put above management skills

The survey also asked what the most valuable asset is among top business schools. Here, respondents placed more emphasis on a school’s alumni network than on skills and knowledge gained. 42% voted for the alumni network as the most valuable asset, with 36% citing skills and knowledge.

However, when the results were filtered to include only those with MBA or comparable degrees, skills and knowledge acquired during the program (43%) overtook the benefits of an alumni network (37%). This suggests that employers without personal experience of an MBA place a lower premium on the actual course content and resultant knowledge gained, but rather see the degree as something of glorified cocktail party.

Some 39% of the survey’s respondents work in the finance industry, although interestingly, the second biggest reported sector was technology – which accounted for one in five of the respondents.

Written by

Tim Dhoul

Tim is a writer with a background in consumer journalism and charity communications. He trained as a journalist in the UK and holds degrees in history (BA) and Latin American studies (MA).