2025 MBA Best In Class Award For Artificial Intelligence: IE Business School

When you think about business schools that are genuinely leaning into the AI era, IE Business School comes forward in a big way. It isn’t just adding a module here or there—it’s making AI part of its very identity. IE recognized early that we had to embrace AI.

One of the more striking moves: a university-wide collaboration with OpenAI to roll out ChatGPT Edu for its full community—students, faculty and staff alike. That kind of scale in an AI rollout is rare, and it speaks to IE’s intent to embed AI across every level of learning and leadership.

On the curriculum side, IE has woven AI into core programs rather than isolating it. In their Master in Management program, students now take courses such as Big Data & Machine Learning, Chatbots & Intelligent Interfaces. For the Master in Finance, they’ve added Deep Learning in Python.

Beyond that, through their “AI for Functions” initiative, IE offers short-intensive executive programs aimed at how generative AI reshapes domains like finance, marketing, legal or HR. One example: a 3-day in-person program on AI-Powered Finance in Madrid, with hands-on tool demos, case studies, and personalized implementation roadmap.

It’s not just about tech and tools. IE’s approach emphasizes leadership, ethics and governance of AI. Their foundational modules in “AI for Functions” include strategic transformation frameworks, ethical governance and change-management for AI-driven workflows—not simply how to use the software.

At the faculty level, IE boasts a strong roster. For example, associate professor Konstantina Valogianni was named among Poets&Quants’ “Best 40 Under 40 MBA Professors” for her work teaching AI and machine learning technologies at IE. That level of recognition reflects the institution’s depth in this area.

What sets IE apart too is the combination of agility and scope. In the P&Q article, their dean Lee Newman is quoted saying IE’s governance structure lets them move faster than many traditional business schools. That kind of positioning gives IE an edge in the fast-shifting AI world.

IE is also thinking about how students engage with AI—not just using it, but understanding its societal impact. Their AI manifesto covers assessment reform, academic integrity in an AI-rich environment, and helping students adopt the right mindset for what the article calls a “mindset divide in AI.”

For students and executives alike, IE offers concrete programs that match the rhetoric. The “AI-Powered Finance” course, for instance, includes modules like generative AI tools, workflow design, and real-world case studies from institutions like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan. That bridges theory to action.

From a global reputation standpoint, IE’s leadership in AI helps bolster its brand. Entrepreneurship and innovation are in IE’s DNA—and adding a core focus on AI enhances that narrative.

When you pull it all together—AI embedded across degree programs, executive road-maps for function-specific AI, faculty active in machine learning, strategic collaborations with OpenAI—you see more than a school scratching at the surface. You see a business school embracing AI at multiple levels.

LAST YEAR’S WINNER: AMERICAN UNIVERSITY’S KOGOD SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

 

POETS&QUANTS 2025 HONORS

DEAN OF THE YEAR: RICE BUSINESS’ PETER RODRIGUEZ

BUSINESS SCHOOL OF THE YEAR: ESCP BUSINESS SCHOOL

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR MBA ADMISSIONS: DUKE FUQUA’S SHARI HUBERT

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD IN BUSINESS SCHOOL BRANDING: ILLINOIS GIES’ JAN SLATER

MBA PROFESSOR OF THE YEAR: MICHIGAN ROSS’ ANDY HOFFMAN

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