2026 QS Global Master’s Degree Ranking: HEC Paris & ESSEC Continue To Set The Bar

QS loves HEC Paris. Just look at the QS Global MBA Rankings. HEC Paris returned to the Top 5, making it the highest-ranked MBA program outside America. It even scored a 95 or better across three dimensions – Employability, Return on Investment, and Thought Leadership – ranking it among the elite in outcomes and research.

However, it is the Master’s arena where HEC Paris truly shines. Every year, QS, a higher education consulting and data management firm, assesses Master’s programs in five disciplines. They include Management, Finance, Analytics, Marketing, and Supply Chain. In the 2026 QS Business Master’s Rankings, HEC Paris stood as the #1 program in three of them: Management, Finance, and Marketing – even displacing the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School as the best Master’s program in Finance. Even more, HEC Paris’ partnership with Ecole Polytechnique continues to be the 3rd-best Master’s program for Business Analytics.

Across the board, ESSEC Business School is equally impressive. Nearly 120 years old, the French school ranks among the Top 10 in all five disciplines, topping out as the 2nd-best program for a Master’s in Marketing and Supply Chain and 3rd and 4th for Management and Business Analytics respectively. Four programs – the London Business School, ESCP Business School, IE Business School, and Imperial College – were also represented across three disciplines. The United States wasn’t completely shut out of the elite programs in the Master’s space, however. MIT Sloan ranked as the top Master’s program for Business Analytics, while the University of Michigan’s Ross School snapped up top honors in Supply Chain Management.

RANKING METHODOLOGY

The QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) Master’s Ranking applies a similar methodology as the Global MBA Ranking. However, it uses a slightly different weight system depending on the discipline.

MANAGEMENT, MARKETING, SUPPLY CHAIN
Employability – 35%
Alumni Outcomes – 15%
Value for Money – 20%
Thought Leadership – 20%
Class & Faculty Diversity – 10%

FINANCE AND BUSINESS ANALYTICS
Employability – 30%
Alumni Outcomes – 20%
Value for Money – 20%
Thought Leadership – 20%
Class & Faculty Diversity – 10%

The dimensions are comprised of the following data:

Employability: QS surveys employers to better measure each school’s quality and reputation. Employability also factors in employment rates within six months of graduation.

Alumni Outcomes: In this dimension, QS cross-references a list of “50,000 CEOs, executives and board members at the biggest companies in the world including Apple, Amazon, UBS, IBM, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, ExxonMobil, AT&T, [and] PepsiCo” against school alumni rolls.

Value for Money: This data is calculated using 10-Year ROI and Payback Month. The former looks at variables like foregone pay, tuition, and cost of living against pre- and post-graduation pay (with loans and scholarships excluded from the formula). The latter examines the time needed to pay back the cost (with a shorter payback time producing a higher score).

Thought Leadership: The majority of the weight is based on a survey of business school academics, who list the institutions they believe to be the best in particular disciplines. The dimension also mixes in research quality and scope, along with the percentage of faculty with Ph.Ds.

Class and Faculty Diversity: This dimension examines two tracks: percentage of female faculty and students and the percentage of international faculty and students.

MASTER’S IN MANAGEMENT
HEC Paris was clearly the top performer in the Management discipline. Running 18 months, the school’s MiM program earned the top marks in three dimensions, excluding Alumni Outcomes (where it lost 6.9 points) and Diversity (where it still gained 7.1 points). The London Business School climbed two spots to #2 after Stanford GSB’s MSx program, last year’s runner-up, wasn’t included in the 2026 ranking. LBS achieved its highest score in Alumni Outcomes (98.5), though the real headline was the school’s 16-point jump in Diversity to rank as the top MiM program in that dimension. CEMS, a global alliance of business schools and employers, raced up 6 spots to rank 4th, buoyed by a perfect score in Value for Money. Overall, Management was a European affair, with only Northwestern University’s Kellogg School cracking the Top 10. That stems from MIT Sloan and the Yale School of Management tumbling out of the Top 10.  The University of St. Gallen’s, the top MiM program in the world according to The Financial Times, was not ranked by QS. In the same FT ranking, HEC Paris ranked 2nd, reinforcing the notion that the program is the class of MiM education.

MASTER’S IN FINANCE
HEC Paris reclaimed the #1 spot it lost in the 2025 QS MF Ranking. The school again shared the top spot in Value for Money, while boosting its Diversity score by 19.5 points to hold the top spot in that dimension (among Top 10 programs). The Saïd Business School slipped to #2, despite holding or gaining ground in every dimension except Value for Money (93.0 vs. 95.4). MIT’s Sloan School again rounded out the Top 3, consistently scoring among the top performers except in Diversity. Overall, every school repeated from last year’s Top 10, though ESSEC Business School dipped from 7th to 10th. At the same time, European programs again held 4 of the 5 top spots.

MASTER’S IN BUSINESS ANALYTICS
Two years ago, UCLA’s Anderson ranked as the top program for a Master’s in Business Analytics. Last year, MIT Sloan edged out UCLA’s Anderson School by 0.6 of a point. This year, the schools tied with perfect overall scores. That said, Sloan technically outpointed Anderson in every dimension except Diversity, where Anderson held a 13.3-point edge. The two-year X-HEC Data Science & AI for Business Master of Science and Technology, a partnership between HEC Paris and Ecole Polytechnique, finished 3rd, excelling in Value for Money and Diversity. This year, Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School crashed the Top 10, while IE Business School fell out of it.

MASTER’S IN MARKETING
HEC Paris and ESSEC Business School repeated at 1-and-2 in Marketing. HEC Paris was the only program to reach 100 in Employability, which carries a 35% weight. Tit for tat, ESSC Business notched a 100 in Value for Money. ESCP Business School rose to 3rd, thanks to improving its scores across all five dimensions. In contrast, IE Business School lost ground in 4-out-of-5 dimensions, resulting in a loss of 2 spots to 5th. The London School of Economics also entered the fray at 8th, replacing EDHEC Business School in the Top 10.

MASTER’S IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
A repeat and a debut – all in the top spot. The University of Michigan’s Ross School again ranked #1. However, Ross shares the honor with ESSEC Business School, which was unranked last year. While ESSEC bested Ross in Employability by over 9 points in Employability, Ross returned the favor in Alumni Outcomes, where it held a 10.3-point advantage. From there, ESSEC held slight advantages in Value for Money and Thought Leadership, with Ross enjoying the same in Diversity. The result: a tie…though the numbers suggest ESSEC deserves the nod. Copenhagen Business School and LaSalle Universitat Ramon Llull also debuted in this year’s Top 10 for Supply Chain Management.

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

DON’T MISS: QS GLOBAL MBA RANKING: A NEW #1 REPLACES STANFORD AFTER 6 YEARS

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