Financial Times 2024 MBA Ranking: 10 Biggest Surprises


8) ESG: Who’s Ahead On Environmental, Social & Governance Issues

You would be hard-pressed to find a business school that has not yet addressed the super hot issue of sustainability. Schools are embedding the topic throughout the core curriculum, adding elective courses, concentrations, and masters degrees in sustainability management.

Last year, for the first time ever, the Financial Times added to its ranking an ESG and net zero teaching rank that measures the proportion of teaching hours from core courses dedicated to environmental, social and governance issues and climate solutions for how organizations can reach net zero. This data is self-reported by the schools. Alumni evaluation of their school’s ESG teaching is also included, according to the FT.

Who won this year? Two prominent schools in Spain lead the list, with IE Business School in Madrid and IESE Business School in Barcelona occupying the number one and number two positions, respectively. They are followed by two schools in France: ESCP Business School and Edhec Business School.

It’s noteworthy that not any of the well-known and highly regarded business schools in the U.S. make the Top Ten on this metric. In fact, the first U.S. institution of note comes in ranked 14th: Yale School of Management. Otherwise, it’s the European business schools that have seemingly made the most progress on ESG issues.

The Big Three in the U.S. have abysmal ranks on this metric. Stanford places 94th out of the 100 schools; Harvard is not much better at a rank of 90th. Wharton is ranked 61st. Frankly, that’s hard to believe.

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