These are the best MBAs in the world – and how much graduates earn

The Financial Times has published its Executive MBA Ranking for 2022, with US business schools featuring prominently due to the high salaries of graduates.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania placed first in the ranking, followed by Columbia Business School in second, the Financial Times noted. The former saw a 115% salary increase, to $237,530 for the average graduate, while Columbia recorded a 120% salary increase, to $218,542 for graduates.

They were ahead of Harvard, Northwestern: Kellogg, Stanford, Chicago: Booth, Yale, MIT, NYU: Stern. The FT’s data showed that the average annual salary for alumni of the 100 ranked schools is $161,000 (R2.5 million). Three years after graduation from Wharton, alumni reported the highest overall average annual income at $238,000 (R3 613 040).

The rankings are based on measures including alumni salaries and how far courses helped them achieve their aims three years after completion, the diversity of student and teaching bodies, and the quality of academic research.

The Financial Times reported that half of the top-ranked MBA schools are in the US. Hong Kong’s HKUST Business School, which held the second position in 2021, dropped to 36th, while no South African institute features, after UCT’s Graduate School of Business in Cape Town dropped out in 2021, from 56th in 2020.

The Financial Times stressed that the increase in top-rated US business schools could be attributed to the qualification remaining essential for many seeking management roles or to progress within a company.

A survey conducted last year by the Graduate Management Admission Council showed that 37% of recruiters expected an increase in MBA hiring over the next five years, said the Financial Times.

MBA intake grew to 14,566, up from 14,168 in 2019, with a reported rise in international students, notably from India. This increase in international students has offset a decline in domestic candidates, the financial paper said.

To ensure that business schools remain relevant, head of educational consultancy CarringtonCrisp, Andrew Crisp, stressed that schools need to continue to adapt to new digital forms of business if they wish to stay out of a very difficult position.

Read: These are the best executive MBAs in the world – and the skills applicants are most interested in right now