This is an interesting study on Superbrands from the Centre for Brand Analysis - www.bitly.com/sprbrnds

I think it partly shows how the domestic UK market views brands differently from the international market (e.g. London, Oxford and Cambridge business schools are rather export oriented). The order in which UK schools appear is:
LSE
Cranfield
LBS
OU Business School
Imperial
Warwick
Cass
Henley
Said
Manchester
Judge
Ashridge
Durham

Interesting - but I think that, rather than this showing a domestic/international awareness discrepency, it's instead showing a general versus a specific focus.

Brand recognition, at least in terms of academics, is informed by a broader scope beyond a school's business programs. More people in the UK know LSE or Cranfield because their undergraduate and graduate bases are so large, and have such varied programs.

For MBAs and business schools, the brand recognition is more focused - and even the FT, a UK publication, ranks them accordingly.

Well, I'm not sure. Cranfield has no undergraduates. And this is a ranking of business brands, not universities, otherwise UCL and St Andrew's would be there. I don;t think this is an alternative as a ranking of MBAs, but as a ranking of the domestic brand equity of management schools I think it's very interesting.

I agree with Duncan. It's a very interesting perspective.

Whilst not removing rankings, I would argue that brand equity adds a valuable dimension. Domestic brand value will be influential to recruiters who aren't familiar with business schools in detail.

My hypothesis is that many employers who haven't been to business school themselves will have a limited idea about schools' rankings. In this case, brand recognition could be far more important.

As an aside, can anyone explain why Cranfield achieves such high brand recognition? I'm curious how it's become so well known, even above LBS in this brand ranking.

In continuation to the above if one has an offer from Bradford, Sheffield and Nottingham which MBA should one choose considering brand recognition. I heard that Bradford as a university is not a big brand although the MBA program per say is good. Nottingham and Sheffield are well reputed university but not sure about the quality of their MBA. Also which one will be the best among the three with respect to job prospects etc. Please respond as i have to decide amongst the 3 and i want to make the right decision.

I think it depends on your career goals. It's certainly between Bradford (which is the only one in the FT MBA ranking http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings-2012 or European ranking http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/european-business-school-rankings-2011) and Nottingham.

Bradford has one of the top 25 European MBA programmes, and that will be reflected in the students and faculty. I think you'll get a better education, a better experience there.

Nottingham is a more academic business school with profile for social responsibility. But it has a sizeable business school and some solid relationships with employers.

I would choose Nottingham for a PhD, but Bradford for an MBA.

From what i can infer from the above is that in terms of employability post MBA Nottingham scores higher than Bradford. Getting a job for international students is of prime importance not to discount the benefit of quality education. Still am unable to make a decision as i would like to get a job in UK post MBA to at least recover the tuition cost....Any Nottingham/ Bradford alumni - Please share your experiences with both the schools. It will help me in arriving at an informed decision.
Just an after thought - Nottingham is placed 74 in the QS world university rankings whereas Bradford in not be seen even in the top 300.

That is an incorrect assumption. The FT ranking strongly weights career outcomes like employment and salary. Ranked schools do better than unranked ones. Look at past years' rankings to compare those schools when Nottingham was ranked.

Hey Guys!!!!

I am confused in selecting Strathclyde and Durham MBA and reason of my confusion is job opportunities and career support.

Could somebody honestly reply with enough insight in to this as to which this University scores higher on job opportunities and Career opportunities.

Look at the FT ranking from 2011 (where you can see the compared http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings-2011) to find answers to your questions and then search the UK discussion board for those schools.

Generally, they seem similar. Strathclyde graduates seemed to have better career progress.

Hi Duncan,
I have posted a question on a seperate thread regarding Henley MBA. As you said that the FT ranking is important as far as job placement is concerned. Henley MBA doesn't feature in FT Global ranking. What is your opinion about job placement and career services of Henley Business school.It is important for me as an international graduate.

Read http://www.find-mba.com/board/25641 and join in the discussion there.

No answers to this, then?

... can anyone explain why Cranfield achieves such high brand recognition? I'm curious how it's become so well known, even above LBS in this brand ranking.

Cranfield is an excellent school and it has a really high profile in British businesses across the country. Its programme for growing the midsized business is perhaps the bestselling general management executive programme in the country. London Business School primarily serves, in its flagship programme, multinational businesses in London. Cranfield is also a massive graduate university which will well placed in industry, where LBS is pretty absent. Nor does LBS really benefit from its links from its parent university.

Thanks Duncan - very interesting insight

As someone considering an Exec MBA and living outside the UK for more than 10 years, I am a strong believer in the fact that brand recognition is far more relevant in the real world than quality of the establishment ; its course content or faculty.

Outside the UK the number of (UK) universities recognised by decision makers will be shrink dramatically. I know the quality of Cranfield brand well (having undertaken training there when it was RMCS) but ask executives in Germany about Cranfield, let alone Durham or Warwick and they are unlikely to be able to rank it against universities they do know. In fact they are unlikely to bother to look it up.

The media seems obsessed with their rankings, which is great for establishing intrinsic values and competences but - as I am likely to move to the other side of the world within the next few years - my prime concern would be the recognition by employer of my MBA against QUT, UQ and other local universities in Australia.

Only when I can Judge (sic) this can I establish whether the premium for an Oxbridge or LBS course is worth it.

Comparative brand recognition metrics should be included in rankings.

BigD

Yes, as you indicate the awareness of brands is very national. Other than HBS, only universities are world-famous, not business schools. Outside of the big-brand recruiters of MBAs, not all business people in Europe know Wharton and not all businesspeople in the US know London Business School. That's a huge advantage for Oxford and Cambridge (and the Sorbonne).

After a bit of research, I wonder why is that lot of Germans are interested in UK brands particularly the oldies oxbridge, imp, man, cran, dur etc?

BigD, are you German? Any idea?

I don't know why they are interested in uk brands per se, but my technology clients are German.

The Brits are already reeling under the Bologna agreement whiich equated a German Dipl Ing against UK Masters level education, and I regularly meet 27 year old German Phds in tech subjects. In my time in UK, I never met one in industry. Which means that competing on qualifications is not straightforward.

Assuming that UK quals' parity is established across the Bologna community in Europe, then it becomes a battle of the brands.

So I would ask this question of UK employers: how many European MBAs would you recognise?

BigD

After a bit of research, I wonder why is that lot of Germans are interested in UK brands particularly the oldies oxbridge, imp, man, cran, dur etc?

BigD, are you German? Any idea?

In Germany the tendency in Tech is to go all the way to PhD. And it is not the case in the UK.

If you mean inferior PhD I doubt if it is the case. Btw, you have met many PhD because of the circle outside of that many German students spend far longer time in University doing not so much