SINGAPORE – Singapore’s top business schools rose up the ranks of the Financial Times’ annual global ranking of Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes, released on Monday (Jan 30).
Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Nanyang Business School was in joint 24th place with Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, up from 29th last year.
Just below them was National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School at 26th place, up from 32nd in 2016.
Insead was named the world’s best business school for the second year running.
Notably, Insead was lauded for its strong international culture – owing to its two campuses in France and Singapore – and an extensive alumni network. The FT ranked it third for international mobility and sixth for international course experience.
Stanford Graduate School of Business rose to second place from fifth while Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania climbed to third spot from fourth.
Several prestigious schools slipped in the 2017 ranking. Harvard Business School fell two places to fourth spot, the first time in nine years that it has been outside of the top three. London Business School fell three places to sixth, it’s worst showing in 14 years.
The FT ranking is based on surveys of business schools and their graduates of 2013. MBA programs are assessed according to the career progression of their alumni, the school’s idea generation and the diversity of students and faculty.
Three years after graduation, Stanford’s MBA graduates earn the highest annual salaries on average – US$195,000 (S$277,640) – but the top 15 MBA programmes are closely matched in terms of income, career progress and satisfaction, BusinessBecause, a business school news website noted from the FT ranking.
All but one of the top MBA courses have alumni salaries over US$150,000 – a salary increase of at least 100 per cent on pre-MBA pay.
An NTU MBA graduate goes on to earn US$126,218 on average while the NUS MBA graduate would be making US$131,760.
In terms of offering good value for money, Nanyang Business School came in 26th globally, while NUS Business School was 33rd.
ann@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on Jan 30, 2017.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
