2025 QS Global Master’s Ranking: HEC Paris & ESSEC Lead The Pack

You’re just starting out. And you know what you want to do. Question is, how do you stand out from all the graduates with the same experience?

An MBA? After taking all the core business courses, an MBA would be more of the same. No, you want to focus and go in-depth – be an expert not a generalist. That’s why a Master’s program is the best fit. You’re not wasting a semester reviewing the basics. You’re not saddling yourself with six-figure debt. Instead, you’re setting yourself up for a better job and a faster return after graduation.

Not all Master’s degrees carry the same credibility in the marketplace. When it comes to the best outcomes and academic experience, QS Quacquarelli Symonds provides one of the most measures. Today (September 25), QS unveiled its latest Master’s rankings, covering Management, Finance, Business Analytics, Marketing, and Supply Chain. In terms of across-the-board excellence, ESSEC Business School sets the bar. The French school ranked among the Top 10 in 4 of 5 disciplines. There were also five schools that made the Top 10 in 3 disciplines: ESCP Business School, HEC Paris, IE Business School, London Business School, and MIT Sloan.

In the ever-popular Master’s in Management segment, HEC Paris again held the top spot, finding off newcomer Stanford GSB. In Master’s Finance, however, Oxford Said replaced HEC Paris as the top program in the field. That said, HEC Paris remained the #1 business school for a Master’s in Marketing degree according to QS. In contrast, MIT Sloan and Michigan Ross became the new top schools in Business Analytics and Supply Chain Management respectively.

METHODOLOGY

To produce the Master’s degree rankings, QS applies a methodology and weighting system nearly identical to the one it uses for MBA Programs:

Employability – 35%
Alumni Outcomes – 15%
Value for Money – 20%
Thought Leadership – 20%
Class & Faculty Diversity – 10%

The main differences: In the Master’s ranking, QS removes the Entrepreneurship data from consideration, while also shifting Return on Investment to Value for Money. In addition, with Finance and Business Analytics, QS tinkers with the weighting system to give less emphasis on employability (30%) and greater credence to Alumni Outcomes (20%).

Most of the Employability dimension stems from the QS Global Employer Survey, where employers like Google and Bank America outline the Master’s programs where they hire talent. Mixed in, QS also includes school employment rates within six months of graduation. Value for Money looks at return on investment over 10 years, comparing compensation against cost (i.e. foregone pay, tuition, and area cost of living). Notably, Value for Money rewards schools on payback, noting “shorter the payback month the better score the school receives.” Alumni Outcomes takes into account the number of graduates a school has among the “50,000 CEOs, executives and board members at the biggest companies in the world.” Thought Leadership involves a survey of academics, who evaluate rival institutions’ prowess in various fields. In turn, QS supplements this qualitative data with hard data on research impact and the percentage of faculty with PhDs. Finally, QS rounds out the methodology using Class and Faculty Diversity, which compares schools by the percentages of female and international faculty and students.

MASTER’S IN MANAGEMENT

The HEC Paris Master in Strategic Management program earned a perfect 100 score in the 2025 QS Ranking. Notably, HEC Paris hosted the highest score among its peers in three dimensions: Employability, Alumni Outcomes, and Value for Money – or a combined 70% of the ranking weight. At the same time, HEC Paris placed 2nd in Thought Leadership. Stanford GSB entered this year’s QS ranking through its MSx program, scoring among the elite in Alumni Outcomes and Value for Money. ESSEC Business School and London Business School each lost a spot to finish 3rd and 4th, while MIT Sloan and Yale SOM debuted in this year’s Top 10. Overall, MIT Sloan achieved the highest score in Thought Leadership, while ICN Business School led the way in Diversity. IE Business School made the biggest move among the Top 10 programs, falling from 4th to 9th.

MASTER’S IN FINANCE

The University of Oxford’s MSc in Financial Economics set the pace in the Finance field. It produced the highest score in three dimensions: Employability, Alumni Outcomes, and Thought Leadership. HEC Paris ranked as the top program for Value For Money. However, it finished 5th in every category where Oxford Said earned the top score, which is why it slipped a spot to #2. MIT Sloan moved up to claim the #3 spot, knocking the London Business School down a peg to 4th. As a whole, the 2025 Master’s in Finance ranking closely resembles the previous ranking, with Yale SOM being the only new school to crack the Top 10.

MASTER’S IN BUSINESS ANALYTICS

In a rarity, two American programs hold the top two spots in a Master’s business program ranking from QS. After being the runner-up to UCLA Anderson in 2024, MIT Sloan snapped up the top spot thanks to finishing 1st in Employability and Alumni Outcomes and 2nd for Thought Leadership. The London Business School and Columbia Business School made the splashiest entrances, debuting at 5th and 6th respectively. By the same token, Ecole Polytechnique-HEC Paris and the ESSEC-CentraleSupelec partnerships tied for 3rd in 2025, no different than 2024.  Surprisingly, two programs outside the Top 75 programs – the University of Cincinnati’s Lindner College and the State University of New Jersey – achieved the highest scores for Value for Money With its combined faculty quality, Ecole Polytechnique-HEC Paris ranked #1 for Thought Leadership.

MASTER’S IN MARKETING

HEC Paris repeated as the top Master’s program in Marketing. Despite ranking 1st in just one dimension – Employability – HEC Paris again achieved a perfect index score. Marketing is clearly a European affair, Columbia Business School is the only non-continental program to break into the Top 10. Along with HEC Paris, the Top 5 remained the same as 2024: ESSEC Business School, IE Business School, ESCP Business School, and Columbia Business School. While the University of Cincinnati’s Lindner College ranked outside the Top 50, it joined EDHEC Business School in posting the top score for Value for Money. Columbia Business School led the way in Thought Leadership and Alumni Outcomes, while ICN Business School scored the highest in Diversity.

MASTER’S IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

The best supply chain program in the world? Michigan State? Penn State? Arizona State? None of the above – the best Master’s program in the field belongs to the University of Michigan’s Ross School, which climbed from #3 to #1 in this year’s ranking. It scored in the Top 5 in every dimension except Diversity, even reaching the top spot in Value for Money. This year’s ranking also featured several big improvements, including EMLyon Business School (12th to 4th), USC Marshall (15th to 5th), and Washington Foster (38th to 9th).

To see the Top 10 finishes in each discipline, go to the next page.

DON’T MISS: QS GLOBAL MBA RANKING: AMERICAN PROGRAMS DOMINATE THE TOP