The Third Round Advantage? Nah

Financial Times European Rankings

“The British are coming! The British are coming!”

No, they’ve already arrived.

That was the finding from this year’s Financial Times ranking of European MBA and Master’s programs. The ranking, a combination of the Times’ ranking of MBA, executive MBA (EMBA), master’s in management (MIM), and executive education programs. For the first time since 2005, the London School of Business ranks as the #1 overall MBA program in Europe.

You can almost imagine LBS alums like Huw Jenkins and Cyrus Pallonji Mistry raising a glass…or doing a jig! And that doesn’t even factor in that Poets&Quants ranked the London Business School as the world’s top full-time business program this month.

Score it a major upset, with last year’s co-#1 – HEC Paris – ranking higher than LBS on every measure except the full-time MBA (where LBS is #1 according to the Financial Times). In fact, the competition between United Kingdom and France goes beyond the London Business School and HEC Paris. Call it a friendlier version of the Hundred Years War, with the UK and France placing 20 and 19 schools in The Financial Times’ top 80 European MBA programs. Compare that to Germany (7), Spain (5), Switzerland (4), Italy (3), and Russia (2) and you’ll understand just who the real dominant business forces are in the European Union.

But don’t raise your Union Jack too high. In the all-important topic of money, French programs actually top UK business schools overall by a $137K to $115K average.

Last year’s other #1 – Spain’s IE Business School – dropped two spots to #3, with only its full-time MBA program cracking the top 5 (at #5, no less) among the four categories. In particular, IE Business School was hindered by its #15 ranking among customized executive education programs.

Spain’s Esade and France’s Insead ranked #4 and #5 respectively. Executive education was Esade’s Achilles heel, where it ranked #11. Insead was dragged down by not offering a Masters in Management program. Three other top 10 programs – IESE Business School, IMD, and The University of Oxford Said – were also hobbled by lacking a MIM program. With its #1 ranking in the MIM category, Switzerland’s University of St. Gallen rose to #6 – despite ranking #24 and #23 in the full-time MBA and executive MBA categories.

This year’s biggest riser was the Judge Business School at Cambridge University, which jumped 19 spots from #48 to #29. Other big leaps could be found at France’s Neoma Business School (+18), UK’s Henley Business School (+17), Russia’s St. Petersburg State (+13), UK’s Warwick Business School (+12) UK’s Lancaster University (+8), and Portugal’s Nova School of Business and Economics (+8).

The biggest dropper? That’d be the UK’s Aston Business School, which tumbled from #47 to #69. However, Aston’s performance – like many others that fell in the overall rankings – can be attributed to only offering one or two MBAs out of the four categories. Other disappointments include: UK’s University of Edinburgh (-17), Germany’s WHU Belsheim (-13), and Denmark’s Copenhagen Business School (-11).

Germany’s EBS Business School made the splashiest debut, going from unranked in 2013 to #47 in 2014, with the school ranking #12 among MIM programs.

Salary-wise, full-time MBAs from the London Business School earn the most within three years of graduation at $156,553. They are followed by Insead ($148,183), IE Business School ($146,933) and Cambridge Judge ($144,350). However, Spanish schools dominated the pay increase rankings, with IESE Business School (125%), Esade Business School (120%), and IE Business School (112%) reporting the highest increases. Among executive MBA programs, France’s HEC Paris topped the list at $307,003, followed by Switzerland’s IMD ($246,394). Among nations, French full-time MBA programs (on average) earn the highest wages after three years ($137K). In the executive MBA space, Swiss programs produce the highest annual earnings ($166K).

Among other measurables, IMD had the highest percentage of international faculty (94%), while St. Petersburg State led in the percentage of female faculty (52%). At 18 schools, 100% of the faculty had doctorates, including IMD, the London School of Business, INSEAD, HEC Paris, and the University of St. Gallen.

To get the rankings and salaries for the top 20 European programs, check ou the table below.

DON’T MISS: POETS & QUANTS’ 2014 BEST INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL RANKING

Source: Financial Times

 

2014 Rank	2013 Rank	School	Country	FT MBA Salary	EMBA Salary
1	3	London Business School	UK	$156,533	$172,028 ($252,539)
2	1	HEC Paris	France	$120,016	$307,033
3	1	IE Business School	Spain	$146,933	$198,402
4	3	Esade Business School	Spain	$120,718	$217,870
5	5	Insead	France	$148,183	$186,211 ($304,843)
6	7	University of St. Galen	Switzerland	$102,158	$147,240
7	6	IESE Business School	Spain	$143,168	$218,434
8	8	SDA Bocconi	Italy	$112,901	$133,796
9	9	IMD	Switzerland	$142,446	$246,395
10	12	University of Oxford: Said	UK	$133,315	$205,942
11	10	Rotterdam School of Management,  Erasmus University	Netherlands	$98,771	$118,828 ($167,987)
12	11	ESCP Europe	France, UK, Germany,  Spain / Italy	NA	$155,087
13	16	Imperial College Business School	UK	$103,604	$139,343
14	13	EMLyon Business School	France	$93,356	$102,598
15	14	Essec Business School	France	NA	$131,037
16	15	Vlerick Business School	Belgium	$90,831	$115,496
17	17	Edhec Business School	France	$78,976	$96,344
18	23	Mannheim Business School	Germany	$97,962	$131,037
19	18	City University: Cass	UK	$110,260	$148,970
19	31	Warwick Business School	UK	$119,121	$148,680

Source: The Financial Times