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FT’s 2010 European ranking: usual suspects in the lead

MBA News Barbara Bierach / 12-15-2010

The 2010 European Business School ranking by the Financial Times looks like the one from last year, at least in regard to the leading five institutions. They are France’s HEC, Great Britain’s London Business School, France’s Insead, Switzerland’s IMD and Spain’s IE Business School, in that order. Further down the list, though, are some surprises.

For example in this annual report TiasNimbas Business School climbed 25 places to achieve a ranking of 24 out of the top 75. The Business School of Tilburg University and Eindhoven University of Technology now holds a strong top three position in the Benelux. ESCP Europe climbed from rank twelve in 2009 to rank seven and now holds the top position in Germany. (See the full ranking here: http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/european-business-school-rankings-2010)

As the Financial Times comments it has been "a funny old year" for European Business Schools. The first half was tainted by slashed revenues and graduating MBAs struggling to find jobs. But as the year progressed, business brightened as applications for degree programmes continued to rise. During these months some peculiarly European trends also manifested themselves. While 2009 was the year of mergers and acquisitions, 2010 has been one of overseas expansion. Both Manchester Business School and France's Skema Business School (a merger of Ceram and ESC Lille) have set up campuses in the US, while the University of Strathclyde has moved into India.

But the real challenges remain closer to home. Colin Mayer, Dean of Said Business School at Oxford University, highlights the issues in getting European students to study at business schools. "There is great merit in business schools being really international, but most of us would like to see a larger component of home-grown European students in the mix," he says.

According to the Graduate Management Admission Council only a small pool of European students apply to business schools. Its data shows that of the 263,979 GMAT exams taken between beginning of July 2009 and end of June 2010, only 9 per cent were taken by European students, compared with 48 per cent by US students and 19 per cent by Asians, even though there are only a handful of top-notch graduate business degrees in Asia.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/11917f6e-fe08-11df-853b-00144feab49a.html#axzz17YsVACEQ