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The Economist ranking: Mannheim on the rise

News Bärbel Schwertfeger - 10.15.2009

British business magazine The Economist has named the Iese in Barcelona the best business school in the world. IMD, last year’s winner, came in second place, followed by the Haas School of Business and the Booth School of Business in Chicago. The Mannheim Business School managed a formidable jump up in the ranking.

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With six spots in the top 10, US schools dominated the worldwide ranking of full-time programs. A total of 54 of the rated schools come from the US, 40 are from Europe and 13 are from Asia and Australia.

After the Iese and the IMD, Europe’s leading schools are the London Business School (eighth place) and the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, which improved from 14th to 10th place, putting it far ahead of schools like the Instituto de Empresa (16th place) and Insead (23rd place) which have a high ranking in other ranking lists. The HEC School of Management improved from 34th to 14th place.

Mannheim Business School’s leap from 51st to 26th place is notable. This year, Mannheim is once again the only German school represented in the Economist ranking. The Netherlands-based TiasNimbas Business School, which also offers a part-time MBA in Germany, came in 94th place.

The best school in Asia and Australia is the Melbourne Business School in 17th place (26th last year), remaining ahead of MIT and the Columbia Business School. Ranked eighth in the world by the Financial Times (FT) ranking at the beginning of 2009, the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) came in just 95th place. The situation is similar with Indian schools. Ranked 15th in the world by the FT, the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad wasn’t taken into consideration at all by The Economist. The Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad was able to position itself as the best Indian school in 99th place.

The reason for the considerable discrepancies between the two ranking lists is the differing criteria. In contrast to the FT ranking, salary increase counts for significantly less in the Economist ranking at 20 percent. The “opens new career opportunities” and “personal development/educational experience” criteria are each weighted at 35 percent. The remaining 10 percent is awarded for the “potential to network.”

This also explains why it isn’t surprising that the two-year MBA programs, which continue to dominate in the US, have faired better. They ultimately offer more time for personal development and networking and, following the internship after the first year of the program, they also facilitate entry into a new industry or function and thus a career change. Ranking leader Iese is one of the few European schools with a two-year program.

For the ranking schools as well as 19,817 students and graduates were surveyed.

View the Economist Ranking