Three Australian MBA Programs Rank In The Economist’s Top 50

mThree Australian business school have made their way onto The Economist’s list of the world’s best MBA providers.

Out of 100 schools around the world, the University of Queensland Business School, Melbourne Business School and the Macquarie Graduate School of Management all ranked in the top 50 at 16th, 27th and 49th place respectively.

The same three schools also made The Economist’s top 100 MBA ranking in 2016, with the most notable change coming from Melbourne Business School, which jumped seven places to 27th this year.

Melbourne Business School was also the only Australian institution to make it into the 2017 FT Global Executive MBA ranking, placing 60th out of 100 international programs.

Melbourne Business School Dean Zeger Degraeve believed that this year’s Economist ranking was a sign the school and its MBA program was getting the recognition it deserves.

“This latest result reflects the tremendous effort our faculty and staff have put in to offering a world-class, career-enhancing experience at our School and reinforces our presence among the world’s top one per cent of MBA programs,” he said.

Coming in at 16 on the list, UQ Business School ranked first in Australia and the Asia-Pacific for its MBA program.

UQ Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj believed UQ’s full-time MBA program was in a class of its own, due to its rank amongst the best from the United States and Europe for the sixth consecutive year.

“Our strong performance in this highly respected ranking is undoubtedly the result of the hard work and dedication of staff, students and alumni, and we look forward to further growing and shaping the program into the future,” he said.

According to The Economist, the rankings were conducted to provide an indication of the current MBA market, reflect the prevailing conditions such as salaries, jobs available, teaching quality and the fortune, both financial and personal, of the program graduates.

The Economist drew their 2017 results from two surveys. The first survey accounted for around 80% of the ranking and covered “quantitative matters” like graduate salaries, a student’s average GMAT scores and the number of registered alumni. The remaining 20% came from a “qualitative survey” filled out by current MBA students and a school’s most recent graduating MBA class, who were asked to rate things such as the quality of the faculty, facilities and career services department.

The United States dominated the rankings this year, with a US school taking every spot on the top 10.

The Economist’s top 10 included Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University), Booth School of Business (University of Chicago), Harvard Business School, Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania), Graduate School of Business (Stanford University), UCLA Anderson School of Management, Haas School of Business (University of California), Tuck School of Business (Dartmouth College), Columbia Business School and Darden School of Business (University of Virginia).

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).