IESE Business School

Get bigger. Get better. Get bolder.

That’s the mantra for every ambitious organization. Be the leader. The innovator. The standard.  For business schools – be the destination. Know who you are, what you do, and why you’re here – and make sure everyone else does too.

The word is getting out on IESE Business School, the Iberian Ivy defined by case method excellence, deep global capabilities, and a humanistic approach to education. Affiliated with Opus Dei, a Catholic institution devoted to service, the school boasts locations in Barcelona, New York City, Munich, Madrid, and São Paulo. Even more, IESE is associated with an entrepreneurial mindset and excellence in ESG education.

Such advantages make the program attractive to students worldwide. To meet increased demand, IESE announced in May that it would boost the size of its fall intake by 20%. In real numbers, that meant increasing class size from 350 to 420 students – the first time in eight years that the school has added a section.

According to Professor Mireia Las Heras, IESE’s MBA academic director, the larger class offers a range of benefits to students. “Larger MBA programs are highly attractive to recruiters because they prefer to engage with a substantial pool of talented individuals in one place,” Las Heras tells P&Q in a 2025 interview. “This growth also allows us to develop a broader and more connected alumni network, which is invaluable for career support, mentorship, and lifelong connections. Additionally, it enables us to strengthen and expand the electives we offer, our career resources and enhance our other extra-curricular services and activities.”

Turns out, the results were better than IESE’s leadership team anticipated. The school ended up enrolling 445 students in the fall class – 25 more than projected (and nearly 100 more than the previous class). Not only did applications increase by 16% during the 2023-2024 cycle, but the school boosted its percentage of women to 40% — an all-time high. That wasn’t the only high mark achieved by the Class of 2026, adds Las Heras.

“We´ve also grown in terms of the internationality and diversity of the IESE MBA. Our class composition stands out as one of the most diverse globally, with 88% international students. Furthermore, no single nationality represents more than 14% of the class, ensuring a truly multicultural learning environment where no single perspective dominates. In our small working groups, which consist of 9 members, nearly every group is comprised of individuals from different nationalities, with no more than two students sharing the same country of origin…This rich mix of backgrounds fosters a global mindset and prepares students for leadership in an interconnected world.”

This shift, while not tectonic, aligns with IESE’s approach, which leans heavily on case studies from across the world. This increasingly diverse class composition also plays into IESE’s structural strengths: highly-experienced faculty and students with wide-ranging backgrounds.

“What truly sets IESE apart is our ability to integrate multiple innovative elements into a cohesive, transformative experience—particularly around international business,” Las Heras observes. “For example, our faculty is extremely international, with professors who can share insights from living, working, and doing business in regions around the world, and from varied research expertise and perspectives. This is mirrored by our highly international student body, comprising individuals who come from a wide range of geographies, as well as industries and backgrounds – everything from logistics, healthcare, operations, arts, and entrepreneurship. This ensures a mix of international perspectives and experiences in class discussions, and also enhances global networking opportunities within the cohort.”

Another differentiator is IESE’s stability. Over the past four years, IESE has ranked between 10th (2022) and 3rd (2023) globally with The Financial Times, including 5th in 2024 – a clear indicator that the program can compete against the very best. This year alone, IESE finished higher than Northwestern University’s Kellogg School, MIT’s Sloan School, University of Chicago’s Booth School, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. IESE even placed above Harvard Business School, whose faculty helped launch the program in the early 1960’s.

True to this consistency, IESE continued to excel where it has long held an advantage. In a survey of current students and recent alumni conducted by The Financial Times, the school ranked 5th for its Alumni Network and 8th for its Career Services. When it comes to the FT’s Satisfaction survey, IESE posted a 9.603 average on a 10-point scale – one of the highest in the world. Like The Financial Times ranking, IESE finished as the 2nd-best program in Europe according to Bloomberg Businessweek too.

Being a Harvard protégé, the centerpiece of the IESE classroom experience remains the case method. Picture 600 cases and 4,000 pages of reading during their two years at IESE – requiring up to three hours of prep for each. Pretty daunting, indeed. However, the cases have a point that’s central to becoming a successful manager. They act as muscle memory. During each case, students identify the important themes and data points, take inventory of the knowns and uncertainties, and weigh alternatives and tradeoffs. During team meetings and classroom discussions, students must present their ideas and grapple with tough questions from peers. In the process, they experienced issues from a wide range of industries, geographies, and functions. And they do this every single class day until it becomes second nature to take into the workforce.

Not only do students develop a thicker skin and think more holistically through the case method, but learn to bring their A-game to every single class. More than that, the case method is a daily reminder to stay open and humble.

“While we discussed hundreds of cases during our time together, there was always somebody who had been in the situation of the case or knew the industry from inside and could share his invaluable experiences,.” explains ’24 alum Markus Kaschnigg.

Not only does the case method remind IESE students of their blind spots, but also hammers home that there isn’t always a right or wrong answer, just better or worse – short-term or long-term. “Each time, I realize that the “obvious” features I identified alone only covered 10-30% of the entire problem and solution set, adds Ross Gething, a classmate of Kaschnigg. “This occurs three times a day, 5 days a week.”

That’s one of the differences at IESE. The students embrace being in a throwback environment that embraces a hefty workload. There is a joke at IESE about the ‘Impossible Trinity’ at IESE: Academics, Social Activities, and Sleeping – and students can only choose two! For students like Christa Zacharia, now a second-year, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I think this intensity is the best training for life after the MBA, where we will likely be in roles where we need to prioritize and decide where to use our limited time effectively.”

Along with the ‘Impossible Trinity’, IESE is also known for the Big E’s: ESG and Entrepreneurship. In 2024, the school ranked as the #2 MBA program for ESG according to The Financial Times. In recent years, the school has doubled down on this strength by launching an Institute for Sustainability Leadership and a concentration in Sustainability & Responsible Business. IESE also maintains a concentration in Entrepreneurship. In fact, 30% of IESE MBAs start a business within five years of graduation, says Marc Badia, the school’s deputy dean, in a 2024 interview with P&Q. At the same time, IESE students can draw from plenty of expertise from IESE founders, adds Badia. He points out they have produced 72,000 jobs across five continents and attracted $11.8 billion dollars in investment.

IESE student founders can also tap into Barcelona, which is just down the hill from the school. In 2024, StartupBlink ranked the city as the 5th-best startup ecosystem in Europe. Data showed that Barcelona was the top city in the video games and pharmaceutical industries, with the startup sector being responsible for over 20,000 jobs and benefiting from the support of a business-friendly Catalan government. Still, Barcelona life is a bigger selling point than Barcelona business to prospective MBAs. After all, it is the one place where you can swim in the Mediterranean Ocean, hike the hills, and ski down the mountains – all in one day. Every week, there is live music and festivals – not to mention world-class delicacies like tapas and croquetas. And the mix of Gothic and Modernist architecture never stops kindling the creative spirit.

In other words, IESE isn’t just a place to learn. It is a place to live. And that’s why it will continue to attract top talent from across the globe.

‘Barcelona is such a beautiful and lively city and I really enjoy that there always seems to be something happening somewhere,” adds Emeline Beltjens, a 2024 grad “In summer it’s the local festival of each Barrio; in winter it’s the Christmas markets and processions for the different celebrations. It is not too small and not too big, so it’s possible to walk or cycle to different places and the infrastructure for that is really good. It also helps that it’s terrace-weather all year long!”

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