South Africa’s best MBA vs the world
South Africa’s best MBA – from the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business – has lost some of its lustre when comparing its international performance in 2015.
The GSB Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programme was ranked as the 76th best out of 100 business schools across the globe by the Financial Times’ annual MBA ranking an analysis.
While still ranked among the top 100 MBA’s, the University of Cape Town’s offering has slipped significantly from 52nd position in 2015.
As part of the reasoning for the slip, a drop in the weighted salary in dollar terms is the leading cause – the indicator declined by over $6,200 to $138,466 (R2.3 million) in 2016.
Average salary increases for GSB MBA holders in South Africa also decreased to ‘only’ 68% from 2015, where it was 76%.
Because of this, the university slipped from being the best value for money out of all 100 schools in 2015, to 8th position in that category in 2016.
The course also saw a significant drop in the “international course experience” rank, where it dropped by as much as 21 spots to 37th.
One of the areas that saw a big climb was the number of female students enrolled, which improved by 16 percentage points to 40%.
The FT ranking is based on surveys of the business school graduates, career progression of alumni, idea generation and diversity of students and faculty.
One of the key indicators tracked by the group is MBA holders’ salaries, which range from $88,345 (about R1.45 million) for alumni from Canada’s McGill University, to $185,939 (R3.06 million) for Stanford Graduate Business School alumni.
South Africa’s GSB MBA holders earn the 26th highest average salaries.
For the first time ever, the Financial Times has ranked a ‘one year” MBA as the top course in the world, with Insead’s MBA trumping Harvard Business School which led the pack in 2015.
According to the FT, Insead’s graduates have an average salary of about $167,000 three years after graduation, nearly double (up 96%t) their pre-MBA remuneration.
“Alumni from the four other schools in the top five have roughly similar salaries and salary increases three years after graduation,” the group said. “However, Insead is ranked 10th for value for money, way above the four runners-up, which are in the bottom quarter for this criterion.”
These are the 15 best business courses in the world, according to the Financial Times.
| 2016 | 2015 | School | Country | Average salary (US$) | Average increase (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Insead | France / Singapore | $166,510 | 96% |
| 2 | 1 | Harvard Business School | USA | $172,501 | 94% |
| 3 | 2 | London Business School | UK | $154,150 | 100% |
| 4 | 3 | University of Pennsylvania: Wharton | USA | $177,877 | 84% |
| 5 | 4 | Stanford Graduate School of Business | USA | $185,939 | 87% |
| 6 | 6 | Columbia Business School | USA | $169,866 | 99% |
| 7 | 10 | University of California at Berkley: Haas | USA | $169,395 | 93% |
| 8 | 9 | University of Chicago: Booth | USA | $158,259 | 107% |
| 9 | 8 | MIT: Sloan | USA | $159,909 | 90% |
| 10 | 13 | University of Cambridge: Judge | UK | $156,323 | 95% |
| 11 | 14 | Northwestern University: Kellogg | USA | $162,923 | 93% |
| 12 | 12 | IE Business School | Spain | $159,266 | 104% |
| 13 | 20 | IMD | Switzerland | $157,439 | 83% |
| 14 | 14 | HKUST Business School | China | $144,303 | 114% |
| 15 | 16 | HEC Paris | France | $134,299 | 108% |
| 76 | 52 | University of Cape Town GSB | South Africa | $138,466 | 68% |
(Currency exchanged at USD 1 = ZAR 16.48)
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