MBA Schools in Germany: Quick Fact File

By Pavel Kantorek Updated Jul 29, 2019

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Introduction
Numbers: cost and class size
Outcomes
Who is studying in Germany?

MBA Schools in Germany: Quick Fact File main image

Facts and figures on Global 200 business schools in Germany

A total of seven German schools are represented in the QS Global 200 Business Schools Report. This is a definitive list of the world’s top 200 business schools, based on an annual survey of HR and line managers with recruiting responsibilities at active MBA-recruiting employers. A total of 3,300 respondents contributed to the 2012/13 edition of the report. The report splits schools into four categories: elite global, emerging global, elite regional and emerging regional.

This is how schools in Germany break down:

Elite Global

EBS Business School

EBS is also included in three of the specialization ratings in the guide. These identify the top-50 schools across a number of specialist areas. The school makes the list for finance, innovation and strategy.

Emerging Global

Emerging Regional

Numbers: cost and class size

The average number of faculty members at German Global 200 schools is 66, 36 of which are full time. International faculty representation averages at 23. Mean class size is 42, meaning that faculty student ratios are strong. The average number of applicants is 215, with competition at ESMT European School of Management and Technology (around 10 applicants per place) and Mannheim Business School being particularly pronounced (around 7).

The mean average tuition rates at the seven German institutions represented here stand at €28,000 (around US$36,500 in March 2013), though this ranges from €7,250 (US$9,500) at Hochschule Offenburg - University of Applied Sciences, to €35,000 (US$45,500) at WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany. Most schools hover around the upper range of the spectrum. Average scholarship budgets in 2011 were just over €190,000 (US$250,000).

Courses tend to be on the shorter side, with courses at GISMA, Mannheim and ESMT being a year or shorter, and 15 or 16 month programs offered at the remaining four schools.

Outcomes

The average base salary three months after graduation stood at US$71,300 for German schools providing information for their 2011 cohort (not all schools could provide this information). This is lower than the average in North America and Europe (US$92,000), although bonuses, which stand at US$36,500, are higher than the average of US$16,000,which largely makes up for this. HHL - Leipzig Graduate School of Management and GISMA Business school reported the highest salaries at US$75,000 and US$74,200 respectively.

In terms of the number of graduates in employment, the average across schools able to provide this information stood at 87.8%.

Who is studying in Germany?

As you would expect from a European school, German business schools tend to attract older candidates, with the age of MBA candidates in 2012 averaging at 29 – matching the global average for one year programs. These candidates tend to have just over four years of work experience behind them and GMAT scores of just over 600. These are not the highest in the world, but this reflects the reduced time these older candidates have to dedicate to studying for the test due their increased pre-MBA responsibilities.

Cohorts tend to be quite international, with 70% coming from overseas. This is as high as 90% as ESMT, with WHU’s proportion of just over 50% being the lowest. Around a third of the cohorts are made up of women, which is just above the global average of 32%.

Also hovering at the around a third mark are the proportion of these cohorts who have studied business and those who have studied engineering at undergraduate level.

Nb. All figures above are where information is available. Not all schools could provide all information. Salary and employment data included in the 2012/13 Global 200 Business Schools Report refers to the 2011/12 academic cycle.

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Written by

Pavel Kantorek

Mansoor is a contributor to and former editor of TopMBA.com. He is a higher and business education specialist, who has been published in media outlets around the world. He studied English literature at BA and MA level and has a background in consumer journalism.