CEO Magazine Ranks Australian Schools High For Tier One MBAs

Griffith University has climbed CEO Magazine’s global rankings to be named equal third in the country.

Australian MBA programs have featured prominently in CEO Magazine’s 2019 Global MBA Rankings, with several providers like Griffith University retaining a tier one ranking alongside the world’s best.

This year’s CEO Magazine rankings were developed from data gathered from 144 schools, offering 292 different programmes in 25 countries across North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the BRICS

According to the methodology, CEO Magazine ranking’s were based on a system weighted towards fact-based criteria, to “cut through the noise and provide potential students with a performance benchmark for those schools under review”.

Schools were scored based on their performance in quality of faculty, international diversity and exposure, class size, accreditation, faculty to student ratio, price, work experience, professional development, gender parity and delivery methods.

CEO Magazine ranked Australian schools for their online MBA programs as follows:

Rank School
=6 University of South Australia
8 La Trobe University
=11 Griffith University
=11 RMIT University EMBA
=13 RMIT University
=17 Central Queensland University
22 University of Southern Queensland
=23 Victoria Graduate School of Business
=33 Swinburne University of Technology
46 The University of Newcastle

University of South Australia’s (UniSA) MBA was ranked as the number one online MBA in Australia and number six globally. La Trobe University ranked second in Australia and eighth overall and Griffith University shared third in Australia and 11th overall with RMIT University.

UniSA MBA Director Peter Stevens said the results reflected UniSA’s commitment to delivering an MBA in Adelaide that is as strong and engaging if you are studying at home in Sydney, outback Queensland or any location around the world. 

“Our MBA is totally flexible, you can study face-to-face, online or in a blended mode, it is all about what fits in with your life and career,” Mr Stevens said. 

“In the online space we have designed the programs so that they include real time virtual classrooms to maximize learning not only from our academics but also from your student cohort, which is especially valuable for MBA students who have industry leadership experience to bring to the discussions.” 

Griffith climbed this year from its rank of 16 in 2018, which Acting MBA Director Associate Professor Stephanie Schleimer said demonstrated the Griffith program’s ability to meet student needs and the requirements of a rapidly changing labour market

“Now, more than ever, the world needs leaders that believe in transforming how we think about doing well in business; with socially responsible, environmentally sustainable and economically inclusive practices,” Associate Professor Schleimer said.

“We know that undertaking an MBA while working full-time can be a daunting and demanding prospect, which is why the online MBA is such a valuable offering for so many of our students.

“Not only does it allow students to study at a time and pace that best suits them; it also provides the same opportunities as the on-campus model to engage and collaborate with fellow professionals, develop new skills and foster valuable networks that will help carry the Australian business world into the future,” she said.

CEO Magazine also ranked the world’s top Executive MBA programs, which included RMIT University (=11), Sydney Business School (=15) and Swinburne University of Technology (20).

Ben Ready
Ben Ready founded MBA News in 2014 and is the Managing Editor. He is a former business and finance journalist with Australian Associated Press (AAP) and Dow Jones Newswires in London. Ben completed his MBA in 2012 and was awarded the QUT GMAA Entrepreneurship Prize. He is also the founder and Managing Director of RGC Media & Mktng (rgcmm.com.au).