Shameless plug for London Business School (FT Rankings) …

League table winners and losers - By Michael Jacobs

Published: January 25 2010 00:01 | Last updated: January 25 2010 00:01 (Financial Times)

The Financial Times Global MBA rankings for 2010 see London Business School claim the coveted number one spot, having shared the prize with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2009.

Comments from alumni of the school's 2006 MBA class, surveyed in 2009 as part of the 2010 rankings process, point to a broad educational experience. "One of the best decisions of my life was to go to LBS for a full-time MBA," says one alumnus. "[It] has enriched my life, from education to career development, to making new friends and gaining new perspectives."

Another adds: "You not only learn from the school curriculum but from the deep cultural diversity of the student population. There is no place else that can offer this advantage to the extent that London Business School does."

LBS is ranked eighth in the world by the FT for faculty research, and it is ranked fifth for alumni recommendations in 2010. Compiled from data collected by the FT from the classes of 2004, 2005 and 2006, this indicator is based on the business schools from which the survey's participants would recruit MBA graduates.

LBS is almost top of the table for international mobility, too, second only to IMD. This not only reflects the international make-up of the student body, but also the world view of the programme. One alumnus explains: "I believe that this is one of the very few business schools that has really understood what a globalised world means, and one of the few in the world where one can have a real understanding of global business in the classroom."

The gradual rise of LBS in the FT MBA table over 12 years – it was ranked eighth in the inaugural MBA ranking in 1999 and had attained second position by 2008 – indicates a broader trend: the diminishing dominance of US-based schools over the past decade. Joining LBS in the top 25 in the 1999 rankings were 20 US-based schools and four other European institutions. The FT rankings introduced a top 100 in 2001 and, again, the top 25 contained 21 US schools. Since then, the number of US schools in the top 25 has decreased, reaching 11 in 2008, and this year. The remaining 14 schools in 2010 are made up of 11 from Europe and three from Asia.

One important factor helps explain this shift: from around 2005 onwards, the return on investment from studying an MBA, measured in terms of salary increase, fell considerably, especially in the US.

It was once commonplace for MBA graduates to triple their salary between starting their programme and three years after graduation. But such increases are now rare. Between the 2000 and 2003 FT MBA rankings, alumni from at least 20 of the top 25 schools enjoyed a salary increase in excess of 150 per cent. Given the US bias of schools in the top 25 during that period, almost all the big pay increases related to schools based in the US. In comparison, the 2010 table includes just two alumni groups out of the 100 with such levels of growth in income. Neither is based in the US.

Why has an MBA become less effective in boosting pay? First, while the calibre of students entering a programme has stayed more or less the same over the past decade in terms of age, experience and seniority, salary data relating to earnings before the degree have increased consistently year-on-year.

At the same time, salaries obtained three years after graduating from an MBA have not increased at the same rate. In fact, the average salary of the class of 2006 is more or less in line with that earned by the class of 1999, a decrease in real terms. Consequently, salary increases have been squeezed, reaching an average of just below 100 per cent in 2009.

In spite of the fall in the number of US schools in the top 25, the league of 100 still has a strong contingent of schools based in the US – 56 of those ranked in 2010 are located there. The UK is the second most represented country, with 17 programmes listed. Overall, the top 100 includes 20 different countries.

London Business School places first in Forbes ranking

The biennial Forbes survey, compiled in terms of gain on expenses, questioned alumni from the class of 2004 to determine the results and saw London Business School move up from number two in 2007 to re-capture the top spot which it also held in 2005. Alumni were asked for their pre-MBA salaries as well as compensation figures for three of the first five years after getting their degrees. Post-MBA salaries were then compared with opportunity cost (tuition and forgone salary while in school). Salary figures are adjusted to account for cost-of-living expenses and discounted the earnings gains, using a rate tied to money market yields. Sabine Vinck, Associate Dean, Degree Programmes said, "I am delighted that we have re-claimed the number one position in this ranking. This result demonstrates that London Business School offers excellent return on investment and that our alumni compensation levels post-graduation are among the highest in the world. While we do not allow rankings to drive our strategy, it is gratifying nonetheless that the value of a London Business School MBA has been so categorically recognised. I would like to thank all those alumni who took the time to complete this survey." The Forbes ranking consists of three separate tables: US programmes, non-US one-year programmes, and non-US two-year programmes. They do not produce a combined rankings table. Insead was ranked first in the one year programmes outside the US, with Stanford the top US programme. A full breakdown of the rankings can now be found here. The rankings issue of the magazine will be on newsstands from 7 August.
Copyright - London Business School

Do you believe in rankings?

London Business School tops FT’s MBA tables

By Della Bradshaw and Michael Jacobs

Financial Times, Published: January 25 2009 23:01 | Last updated: January 25 2009 23:01

A European business school has topped the table and a Chinese institution has been placed in the top 10 for the first time since the Financial Times began its rankings of MBA programmes a decade ago.

London Business School is ranked in the number one slot jointly with the Wharton school at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously only two US schools, Wharton and Harvard business school, have held the number one slot.

The FT MBA 2009 ranking also charts the rise of the Asian business schools. Shanghai-based China European International Business School (Ceibs) was ranked number eight – becoming the first Chinese business school to make the top 10.

Three Asian schools, two in China and one in India, feature in the top 20. This does not include Insead, the French institution ranked five, which has a campus in Singapore as well as in France. London Business School has been ranked among the top in the world since the inaugural FT rankings began in 1999, when it was placed eighth. Since then, the UK school has climbed slowly up the table, ranking second last year.

As well as having the number one-ranked full-time MBA programme, LBS also tops the FT Executive MBA rankings with the EMBA Global programme that it runs jointly with Columbia Business School in New York. EMBA programmes are designed for working managers.

The ranking of the top 100 full-time MBA programmes is dominated by American business schools, with 56 of the 100 based in the US.

Yet the FT rankings have also over time reflected the growth in high-quality MBA programmes outside the US, first in Europe and more recently in China, India and Singapore. In 1999, 17 of the top 20 schools and 31 of the top 50 were from the US, while in 2009 there are only nine US schools in the top 20 and 23 in the top 50.

Many Asian students are preferring to study for MBAs in their own country. They are being well rewarded. Salary data collected for the rankings show that Chinese students who study in China receive comparable salaries to those who go to a US or European business school. Indian students who study in India and then work in India after they graduate receive the highest salary increase of all Indian students. Their pay outranked that of their peers who complete MBA courses in Europe or the US.

US graduate schools have suffered due to tightened visa restrictions, although a change of policy has since shortened processing times and led to a rebound in applications. But 65 per cent of US graduate schools still reported fewer international applicants last year than in 2003, according to the Council of Graduate Schools.

The FT MBA ranking 2009 was compiled from data supplied by 9,000 business school alumni working in 130 countries.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009