By The Numbers: How Global Is Your MBA Experience?

Questrom School of Business at Boston University

HEAVY GROWTH IN INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION ON BOARDS

Searching for a metric that reflects how globally-connected some schools have become? Look no further than board membership, which has enjoyed a strong infusion of international talent in the majority of schools. As you’d expect, five schools – IMD, INSEAD, ESADE, IE Business School, and IESE – maintain boards comprised of 80% of more overseas representation. However, several schools have overhauled their boards in recent years to project a more global outlook.

In the United States, Boston University’s Questrom School stands out, pushing international board presence from 8% to 68% in just five years. Other American programs have made substantive progress over that time, including Dartmouth Tuck (+28% to 40%), Northwestern Kellogg (+24% to 34%) and (of course) Yale (+22% to 39%). Overall, MIT Sloan, Duke Fuqua, and Wharton feature boards where 50% or more of its board hail from outside the states. At the same time, several programs, including Stanford, Wharton, and North Carolina Kenan-Flagler have seen double digit decreases in international board membership in the past five years. Coincidentally, Stanford and Wharton have welcomed fewer international students to campus in that time as well.

Overseas, Western Ontario Ivey (+48%), Oxford Said (+39%), and HEC Paris (+24%) added the most international talent to their boards since 2011, with SDA Bocconi boosting their numbers by 43% since 2006 (They were unranked in 2011). At the risk of redundancy, HKUST produced the steepest fall in international board representation – 49% in the past five years alone.

(Go to next page for historical data on Internal Mobility)