Ranking: Financial Times' World Best Executive MBA Programs Of 2023

The Lee Shau Kee Business Building, at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s campus, which overlooks Clear Water Bay in the New Territories. The building is home to the Kellogg-HKUST EMBA, ranked No. 1 by the Financial Times two years in a row. Courtesy photo

Europe and China dominated the top of the Financial Times’ latest ranking of the world’s Executive MBA programs, snagging the top 10 spots. You have to go all the way to No. 10 to find a stand-alone U.S. based program: Yale School of Management’s EMBA program tied with Iese Business School to crack the top tier of the ranking.

Kellogg-HKUST’s pioneering EMBA topped the ranking for the second straight year. In fact, the program – a partnership between Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Business School – has topped the ranking 11 times. It celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)’ EMBA based in China, Switzerland, and Ghana also matched last year’s result, finishing both years at No. 2.

ESCP Business School rose two spots to No. 3. The school – with campuses in Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris, Turin and Warsaw – is the top ranked European school and holds the highest position in every country where its campuses are located. It scored the highest in international course experience and fourth for career progression, a metric measuring alumni change level of seniority and organization size after completing the program. It also ranked second for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and net Zero teaching.

“Many of our alumni have transitioned into pivotal sustainability roles or embarked on startups dedicated to sustainability-related ventures after completing our EMBA. This transformation and the results of this ranking underscore the profound influence our programme has on shaping leaders who create value for companies and society, taking into account issues of sustainability, and with a strong commitment to having a positive impact on the world,” says Francesco Venuti, Dean of the EMBA at ESCP.

See the top 10 EMBA programs in the table below.

Top 10 Global EMBA Programs for 2023
2023 Rank	School	Location	2022 Rank	YOY Change
1	Kellogg/HKUST Business School	Hong Kong	1	0
2	Ceibs	China/Switzerland/Ghana	2	0
3	ESCP Business School	France/Germany/UK/Italy/Spain/Poland	5	2
4	Trium: HEC Paris/LSE/NYU: Stern	France/US/UK	6	2
5	University of Oxford: Saïd	UK	15	10
6	IE Business School	Spain	12	6
7	HEC Paris	France/Qatar	4	-3
8	Fudan University School of Management	China	12	4
9	London Business School	UK/UAE	19	10
10	Iese Business School	Spain/US/Germany/Brazil	10	0
10	Yale School of Management	US	14	4

Trium Global EMBA – a partnership between three elite business schools, HEC Paris, LSE, and NYU Stern – rose two spots to No. 4.

And, University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School rose a whopping 10 points to break into the top five. It is the program’s highest rank in FT since it launched 19 years ago.

“We put a great deal of hard work into delivering a truly global, world-class programme, with a sharp focus on delivering value for our students. It is fantastic to see that recognised in these rankings,” Saïd dean Soumitra Dutta says in a school press release. “We are also fortunate to attract an impressive, global community of students, who enrich our School and bring such a unique, worldwide perspective to the course.’

TOP RANKED U.S. PROGRAMS

If you strip out the many partnership and foreign-based Executive MBA programs from the 2023 ranking, these are the top standalone programs in the U.S., Yale School of Management has the highest ranked EMBA in the land. It rose 2 spots in the U.S. list from last year, overtaking MIT Sloan which falls to No. 2.

This summer, Yale SOM announced significant changes to its EMBA, adding a fourth focus area in general management and allowing more flexibility in choosing electives and other enrichments.

The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania had the third highest standalone U.S. program (it ranked 18th in the world) followed by UCLA Anderson School of Management at No. 4 in the U.S. and No. 22 in the world. Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management rounds out the top five in the U.S. while finishing No. 27 in the world.

Standalone EMBAs based in the United States dominated the overall list with 26 programs. That includes six schools not ranked last year who did participate this year. Columbia Business School, for example, was ranked No. 33 in the world and the seventh best EMBA in the U.S. after not submitting data to the FT last year. See table below.

Top U.S. Standalone EMBA Programs, FT 2023
School	2023 US Rank	2022 US Rank	US YOY Change	2023 World Rank
Yale School of Management	1	3	2	10
MIT: Sloan	2	1	-1	13
University of Pennsylvania: Wharton	3	5	2	18
UCLA Anderson School of Management	4	4	0	22
Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management	5	6	1	27
University of Michigan: Ross	6	10	4	32
Columbia Business School	7	NR	NA	33
New York University: Stern	8	9	1	34
Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business	9	11	2	39
University of Texas at Austin: McCombs	10	8	-2	42
Emory University: Goizueta	11	7	-4	43
Vanderbilt University: Owen	12	NR	NA	49
Georgetown University: McDonough	13	12	-1	55
Rutgers Business School	14	16	2	59
University of Maryland: Smith	15	14	-1	60
University of California at Irvine: Merage	16	NR	NA	68
Texas A & M University: Mays	17	14	-3	71
University of Georgia: Terry	18	NR	NA	72
University of Pittsburgh: Katz	19	NR	NA	75
University of Utah: David Eccles	20	20	0	79
Georgia State University: Robinson	21	18	-3	81
Fordham University: Gabelli	22	22	0	83
Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business	23	17	-6	85
Cornell University: Johnson	24	NR	NA	91
University of Tennessee: Haslam College of Business	25	21	-4	92
Michigan State University: Broad	26	19	-7	97

Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business ranked 21st for U.S. standalone programs and 81st in the world. But, it ranked third highest in the U.S. and seventh highest globally in overall satisfaction by alumni. The Georgia State EMBA scored 9.62 out of 10 on the metric, bested in the U.S. only by MIT Sloan School of Management (9.80) and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (9.71).

“We are gratified that our alumni remain so highly satisfied with Georgia State’s Executive MBA years after their graduation,” says Chris Hilario, EMBA program director, in a release. “We believe this metric speaks to the growth they experience during the program and their subsequent career progress, the deep level of individual engagement between students and faculty, and opportunities for continued involvement after graduation – all hallmarks of the program since its establishment in 1982.”

NEXT PAGE: World’s biggest winners and losers in the FT EMBA ranking