MBA rankings for Australian MBA courses are developed by a range of organisations and institutions. Rankings help students decide which MBA course suits them. Some take a global perspective while other take a more local or regional perspective. Below are the major rankings for Australian MBAs for 2020.
The Financial Review Boss MBA ranking has been published biennially since 2007. All Australian business schools are invited to participate and are provided an overview of the methodology and invited to give feedback.
The University of Sydney has trumped all comers in the 2019 AFR BOSS MBA Rankings, taking top spot for both its flagship MBA and Executive MBA programs.
The University of Sydney Business School’s $63,000 MBA ranked best with alumni for Overall Satisfaction and Value for Money. The ranking s are determined using a range of factors based on surveys from the schools and alumni.
Adelaide Business School, QUT Business School and the University of Adelaide all jumped two places from their 2017 ranking to come in second, third and fourth respectively. Griffith Business School rounded out the top five.
The University of Queensland fell from second to eight and Melbourne Business School dropped out of the list all together.
2019 AFR BOSS MBA Rankings
Rank 2019 School 2019 Fees (Domestic) Students 1 The University of Sydney Business School $63,000 97 2 Adelaide Business School $61.500 65 3 Queensland University of Technology $59,850 52 4 University of South Australia $49,650 122 5 Griffith Business School $51,750 169 6 Monash Business School $68,000 52 7 Macquarie Business School $80,000 164 8 University of Queensland $66,840 156 8 Central Queensland University $31,200 35 10 University of Western Australia $73,500 153
The University of Sydney also top the rank of top Executive MBAs, ahead of 2017 winner QUT Business School. AGSM @ UNSW Business School had the third ranked EMBA with Bond Business School and Sydney Business School rounding out the top five.
2019 AFR BOSS Executive MBA Rankings
2019 Rank School 2019 Fees (Domestic) Students 1 The University of Sydney Business School $97,500 17 2 Queensland University of Technology $70,848 51 3 AGSM @ UNSW Business School $80,640 222 4 Bond Business School $82,500 10 5 Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong $70,224 31
Three Australian MBAs – Melbourne Business School, AGSM @ UNSW and Macquarie Business School – have maintained their place in the latest Global MBA Ranking for 2020 compiled by UK-based FT (Financial Times).
Melbourne Business School’s top ranked MBA came in at 80th (2019: 61), AGSM @ UNSW was 88th (2019: 70) and Macquarie Business School snuck in at 97th (2019: 74).
Of the Australian schools, Macquarie MBAs were the best paid with an average salary of $US120,091 ($AUD177,000) three years after graduation, an increase of 83% on their pre-MBA salary.
AGSM @ UNSW MBA graduates reported a salary of $106,000 ($AUD156,000) three years after graduating, up 62% on their pre-MBA salary. Melbourne Business School grads were paid an average $US115,679, up 74% on their pre-MBA salary.
| School | 2020 Rank | 2019 Rank | 2018 Rank | Salary today ($US) | Salary increase | Value for money rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Business School | 80 | 61 | 66 | 115,679 | 74% | 7 |
| AGSM @ UNSW | 88 | 70 | 63 | $106,393 | 62% | 65 |
| Macquarie Business School | 97 | 74 | - | $120,091 | 83% | 72 |
Three Australian business school made their way onto The Economist’s list of the world’s best MBA providers.
Out of 100 schools around the world Melbourne Business School, the University of Queensland Business School and the Macquarie Graduate School of Management all ranked in the top 50 at 23rd, 79th and 49th place respectively.
The same three schools also made The Economist’s top 100 MBA ranking in 2017, with the most notable change coming from Melbourne Business School, which jumped four places to 27th.
| School | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| Melbourne Business School | 38 | 27 | 40 | 43 | 34 | 27 | 23 |
| University of Queensland | 27 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 10 | 16 | 38 |
| Macquarie University | 61 | 55 | 49 | 28 | 46 | 49 | 79 |
| Curtin University | 46 |
Two Australian MBAs — Melbourne Business School (3rd) and the AGSM at the University of New South Wales (5th) — have made it into the top MBAs in Asia, according to the latest rankings by QS Top MBA. Globally, Melbourne Business School MBA was ranked 34th and AGSM 39th.
A further four Australian MBAs – MGSM Macquarie University, UQ Business Business, University of Western Australia and Bond University – were ranked inside the top 200. Deakin University, RMIT, Wollongong (Sydney Business School), La Trobe Bsiness School and and Victoria Graduate School of Business were all in the top 250.
Harvard (United States), INSEAD (France), HEC Paris (France), Stanford (United States) and London Business School (United Kingdom) were the top five schools globally.
The MBS report showed an average class size of 52, an average student age of 28, with 50% of students and international and just one-in-five students female. AGSM’s average class size was 44, average student age was 30, 63% were international students and 30% of students were women.
| Business School | Australian Rank | Asia Pacific Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Business School | 1 | 3 |
| AGSM MBA, University of New South Wales | 2 | 5 |
| MGSM Macquarie University | 3 | 14 |
| UQ Business School (University of Queensland) | 4 | 15 |
| UWA Business School (University of Western Australia) | 5 | 16= |
| Bond University | 6 | 21-26 |
| Deakin University | 7 | 21-26 |
| RMIT University | 8 | 21-26 |
| Wollongong (Sydney Business School) | 9 | 21-26 |
| La Trobe Business School | 10 | 27+ |
| Victoria Graduate School of Business | 11 | 27+ |
AGSM @ UNSW Business School’s two-year, full-time MBA program has cemented itself as among the best in the world, securing eighth spot on the latest bi-ennial Forbes MBA rankings.
For the first time, AGSM@UNSW Business School’s two-year MBA has been ranked among the top 10 worldwide by Forbes. It comes a week after AGSM @ UNSW’s Executive MBA secured third place in the AFR BOSS MBA rankings.
The AGSM program was the only Australian MBA program to feature in the Forbes ranking. The top 10 include London Business School (UK) HEC Paris (France), IESE (Spain), CEIBS (China) and Esade (Spain).
The rankings assess MBA programs in three categories – US Schools, International One-Year MBA and International Two-Year MBA.
The Graduate Management Association of Australia (GMAA) awarded seven Australian MBAs a 5 star ranking in 2017, with Queensland business schools once again dominating the list.
The seven school awarded 5 stars were Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology (MBA & EMBA), University of Adelaide, University of Queensland, University of South Australia and University of Wollongong.
Wollongong makes its debut on the 5-star list while Deakin University and Latrobe lose their 5-star ranking.
The GMAA rankings provide the country’s best business schools with a means of quantifying the success and calibre of their postgraduate programs, which helps not only the institution in terms of allowing it to set benchmarks and aspirations for itself, but potential students seeking to maximise their learning outcomes.
One of the aims of the assessment is to assist prospective student in their choice of institution / program by looking at programs from two perspectives – attractiveness and educational quality.
