Is the Economist messing it up? I just read this PressRelease:

The Economist got it wrong

The Economist Intelligence Unit MBA rankings announced today contain a serious error, which has resulted in an incorrect ranking for Melbourne Business School.

According to the Economist rankings, MBS sits at number 46 internationally. It should be positioned considerably higher.

The error is the result of the Economist incorrectly recording the MBS student salaries.

The average exiting salary of MBS students used by the Economist in its calculations and mentioned in an accompanying media release from the Economist, was US$71,200, which is 22% lower than the true figure of US$91,772.

MBS Dean, Professor Jennifer George says, ?Our record in the Economist ranking is outstanding with a rank of 26 in 2008 and 17 in 2009.

?There were no substantial shifts in the data reported by the School this year. While exiting salaries were slightly affected by the financial climate, our career placement results were comparable to or better than most other business schools around the world, therefore we expected a similar ranking to last year.?

She added, ?It is gutting to realise that an error like this can seriously affect our reputation through absolutely no fault of our own.?

Last year MBS was ranked by the Economist as the number one full-time MBA program in Asia Pacific and 17th on the world stage.

?We?re confident that when the error is corrected our rankings will fully reflect the excellence of the education provided at Melbourne Business School,? Professor George said.

This year, even with the error MBS is still number one in the Asia Pacific.

For further information please email Jennifer at any time during the weekend, with your contact details. She will have intermittent mobile access but will get back to you as soon as she can.

Jennifer George, Dean, Melbourne Business School, email: [email protected]

Ian Hawkings

BlueSky PR
E: [email protected]

What? A business school questioning a highly subjective, questionable ranking system? I could see a flurry of press releases coming from hundreds of schools not ranked higher.