The FT's Global MBA Ranking Updated for 2019

The Stanford MBA leads the list again this year; some UK schools have mixed results in the face of uncertainty

The number one MBA in the world is offered by the Stanford Graduate School of Business, according to the Global MBA Ranking from publication the Financial Times. The Stanford MBA was also number one last year, and second-best in 2017.

Another US behemoth, Harvard Business School, is number two this year, taking the runner up spot from Insead Business School, which is now number three. The MBA from the Wharton School is in position number four.

Notably, China's CEIBS Business School has broken into the top-five this year, making it the highest placed China-based school in the ranking to date.

London Business School has fallen from position number four to number six this year. The top-ten is rounded out by the typical cast of US-based MBA programs: the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, MIT - Sloan, Columbia Business School, and UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

The results were mixed for UK schools, with an air of uncertainty around Brexit. The University of Oxford's Said Business School has risen 14 spots to land at position number 13 this year, and the University of Cambridge's Judge Business School remains in the top 20, dropping three positions to number 16. Some UK schools—such as Warwick Business School, Imperial College Business School, and Durham University Business School—rose in the ranking this year. Others, such as the University of Edinburgh Business School, Cass, and Cranfield School of Management, lost ground. Yet others, such as Bath and Strathclyde, have dropped out of the ranking altogether.

The mixed situation might reflect a few factors at work, such as the uncertainty of Brexit and the drop in the value of the pound.

The FT Global MBA Ranking 2019: Big movers

A couple schools in the ranking were notable for their sizable shifts. The Indian Institute of Management - Calcutta (IIM-C), rose almost thirty places in this year's ranking, from 78 to number 49. On the other hand, China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University: Antai, lost ground this year, dropping from 34 to 51. IE Business School, which was not listed in last year's Global MBA Ranking, re-appeared at spot number 31. Alliance Manchester Business School dropped from 36 to 59.

Indeed, most of the big movement is in the second half of the ranking. The lack of substantial changes in the top part of the ranking versus the schools in the bottom have prompted the FT to make the following observation: "That so few new schools made it on to this year’s ranking could be seen as a sign that the market for campus MBAs is reaching a point of maturity, where the gap between the top schools and the rest mean that the barriers to entry have become too high for others to gain a foothold."

To determine the rankings, the FT looks at a number of factors, including post-MBA salary, salary increase, and international mobility. The data is from three years out, that is, for the 2019 ranking, the class of 2015 was surveyed. A total of 150 schools took part in the 2019 Global MBA Ranking; all participating schools must have accreditation from AACSB or EQUIS.

Here's a list of the top 20 schools in this year's FT Global MBA Ranking, as well as their change from last year.

The FT's Global MBA Ranking 2019

FT MBA Ranking 2019	Business School	Location	Change from 2018
1	Stanford	USA	no change
2	Harvard	USA	+3
3	Insead	France / Singapore	-1
4	Wharton	USA	-1
5	Ceibs	China	+3
6	London Business School	UK	-2
7	Chicago - Booth	USA	-1
8	MIT - Sloan	USA	+1
9	Columbia	USA	-2
10	UC Berkeley - Haas	USA	no change
11	Yale	USA	+4
12	IESE	Spain	-1
13	Oxford - Said	UK	+14
14	Northwestern - Kellogg	USA	-2
15	Dartmouth - Tuck	USA	+1
16	Cambridge - Judge	UK	-3
17	NUS	Singapore	+1
18	HKUST	China	-4
19 (tie)	HEC Paris	France	+2
19 (tie)	Duke - Fuqua	USA	no change