Stay tuned:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/d0401bdc-9bf2-11e4-b6cc-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3PT0WczKY

[Edited by jimshui on Jan 26, 2015]

My predictions:

UK schools will continue to rise: will Cambridge break into the top-10? Also, Strathclyde will gain some, and maybe we'll see one or two other Scottish business schools in the ranking (Edinburgh, maybe?)

Indian business schools will fall: IIMA peaked at 11 in 2012 but has been steadily declining. It will continue to do so. Same with ISB.

European business schools will be a mixed bag. I think we'll see sizable gains for Germany's business schools, but the ones in southern Europe will probably fall some, in line with the macroeconomic situation across the continent.

US business schools: I think many of these, especially the ones placing well in tech like UCLA, will go higher. Schools -- other than the top-tier ones like Harvard -- that place in traditional MBA industries like finance or consulting will probably stay where they are or fall some.

Any thoughts on other schools? I'm not at all sure what will happen with Chinese/HK/Singapore schools.

Since the pound has weakened a lot against the dollar, from $1.72 to $1.49, I am not sure that the UK schools will do well. The main driver of changes in the rankings is salary, and currency values are more volatile than business schools.

What do you think of the rankings? Lancaster has rocketed up; I am completely flabbergasted. Anyone know why this is?

Global MBA 2015 by FT has been announced:

http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2015

Surprising that the ranking of Warwick Business School dropped to 38 (2015) from 25 (2014) while the ranking of most UK Business Schools improved.

[Edited by jimshui on Jan 26, 2015]

Interesting thing about Warwick: the average salary was more or less the same, yet the average increase in earnings was just 61%, down 26% on the previous years. So, it looks that that cohort had salaries on the way win but the outcomes were not improved: I guess that's why they fell.

More notable movements: a big rise for Lisbon and quite a fall for AGSM and Melbourne (a big increase in international mobility there, so the cause could be less domestic placement). Great to see CUHK and Iowa back in the top 70, and surprising to see Macquarie and San Diego entering the ranking, also in the top 70.

In terms of careers, there were big improvements at Duke, ESMT, Fudan, Manchester, Mannheim, USC, Purdue, Tias, Lisbon and IE (mostly in European and all up more than 15 place, while Broad, Erasmus, Georgetown, Haas, Michigan, Minnesota, Rady, Rice, Smeal, UNC, UTA, Vanderbilt and Imperial, in the US and UK, fell by 15 or more places). The falls are often connected to changed in the diversity and quality of the incoming class.

International mobility at Tuck was up 14% and 12% ar Rice, huge increases for US schools. Some gender shifts are also notable: Imperial College went from 29% women to 49% women (and added 12% more international students), while Durham fell from 52% to 27% women, and Tias went from 50% to 29% women. The Rady school added 28% more international students.

Alumni recommendations are one of the more stable variables, but Antai, Cass, Cambridge, Fudan, Mannheim, Vlerick and Washington all rose 8 or more places.

The other point that should be made is about the schools that have dropped out of the ranking. Generally these ae smaller programmes, which struggle to generate the volume of data needed to get into the FT ranking. I think these will be easier to get into. Two of them, Texas A&M and Brigham Young are very high-quality programmes with highly competitive application-to-place rations: these programmes will remain competitive. Hult, at the other end, is a part of a for-profit school and it not known for its selectivity.

I would pick out Wake Forrest, Tulane, UC Davis and York/Schulich as schools that are strong but may see a dip in applications this year.

Duncan, the UK MBA's are very small programmes too (for example Lancaster only admits around 40 students), so what do you think the real reason is why these American programmes were not ranked? Also disappointing Edinburgh was not ranked - do you know if the school is bothered about being ranked?

I imagine that the US schools fell out because of lower salary.

Edinburgh will want to be ranked, but the bottom of the table is competitive and a small difference separates those who do, and do not, get in. In the European Business Schools ranking you can see more of the European MBAs ranked, including Edinburgh. I have no idea how the Edinburgh MBA team feels about rankings; certainly it's a very selective school (I think between 4 and 8 applicants per seat depending on the programme) by European standards and it is focussed on quality rather than growth.

[Edited by Duncan on Jan 26, 2015]

Dear Duncan,

I am glad to see the Lisbon MBA climbing up the ladder and at the same time I am curious to know- what indistries do they seem to provide placement in?. Any insight, opinion, counsel would be greatly appreciated.

I am looking for MBAs that would have links to hospitality in terms of placement.

[Edited by Miroslav on Jan 27, 2015]

A client of mine dropped out of the Lisbon MBA, and restarted his studies at another FT-ranked school with a better record of placing students into work. The Lisbon MBA seems to be a great programme if you speak Portuguese, but I notice that only 81% get into employment (according to the FT data), making it one of the five weakest schools in the top 40 on that variable, and one of the three lowest for "aims achieved".

I would suggest reading:-
* How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571
* Do you need to speak the local language? www.find-mba.com/board/34713

Hi Duncan

If i may...regarding the Lisbon MBA, why do you think it is a great program if you speak Portuguese? If possible, could you give some examples?

[Edited by Mitch on Jan 29, 2015]

For example, Portuguese is the language of Brazil and Portugal. Most Lisbon students either come from there or are placed there. Almost all speak Portuguese.