FT ranking: Executive education

As is the case with the MBA rankings, company specific programs are also displaying a significant rise in European schools at the expense of US ones. Only four US schools are represented in the top ten. That is three fewer schools than in the previous year. Those who have lost ground: Babson Executive Education (11th place, down from 6th place last year), the University of Chicago: Booth School of Business (19th place, down from 7th place last year) and the Thunderbird School of Global Management (24th place, down from 9th place last year).
 
Among the biggest improvers are Insead (from 20th to 5th place), Esade Business School (from 25th to 8th place), the Essec Business School (from 35th to 15th place) and the University of St. Gallen (46th to 32nd place).

New on the ranking list are, among others, the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin in 44th place, the Incae Business School from Costa Rice (46th place), Canada-based Queen's School of Business (51st place) and Ceibs in Shanghai (65th place).

ESMT's placement is surprising. Upon a closer look at the individual criteria, the school scores points above all with its facilities and partner schools. In the "new skills & learning rank", the Berlin school is ranked 60th (from a total of 65). In the "future use rank" -  that is, the use of the program for the future - the ESMT is in 59th place.   

That the school founded and financed by 25 German companies was the only German school to make it onto the rankings most likely has to do with the minimum revenue of two million dollars that the FT requires. The leading German business schools obviously failed at this. The ESMT declared a revenue of 8.9 million dollars.

Also interesting is the number of company customers that assessed the school's programs. Ultimately it's a clue of a ranking list's value. 54 companies gave their vote at the IMD, 48 at Insead and only 11 at the ESMT.

Executive programs that are tailored to the needs of a company are among a business school's most lucrative products. While hardly any school makes money with its MBA program, as a rule it is the company-specific programs that bring in the big bucks. The development of a program alone can cost more than 100,000 euros.
   
www.ft.com