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 2021. Jump to:
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 eighth and Melbourne Business School dropped out of the list all together.
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 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
Two Australian MBAs – Melbourne Business School and AGSM @ UNSW – maintained their place in the latest Global MBA Ranking for 2021 compiled by UK-based FT (Financial Times). Melbourne Business School’s top ranked MBA came in at 87th (2020: 80) and AGSM @ UNSW was 79th (2021: 88). Macquarie Business School was ranked 97th in 2020 but fell out of the Top 100 in 2021.
Of the Australian schools, Melbourne Business School MBAs were the best paid with an average salary of $US108,7881 ($AUD177,000) three years after graduation, an increase of 64% on their pre-MBA salary. AGSM @ UNSW MBA graduates reported a salary of $108,788 ($AUD156,000) three years after graduating, up 66% on their pre-MBA salary.
| School | 2021 Rank | 2020 Rank | Salary today ($US) | Salary increase | Value for money rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AGSM @ UNSW | 79 | 88 | $108,376 | 66% | 62 |
| Melbourne Business School | 87 | 80 | $108,788 | 64% | 21 |
| Macquarie Business School | Not ranked | 97 |
Australian MBA programs performed well in the global MBA ranking from The Economist magazine. In 2021, COVID-19 and the non-participation of some of the biggest business schools in the world caused a major shake-up of the influential list.
The University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Business School retained its place as Australia’s top-ranked full-time MBA program despite falling six places to 34th. Macquarie Business School jumped 33 places to 41st, while the University of Queensland Business School climbed seven places to 47th.
READ MORE: Macquarie, UQ Business School Soar In 2021 The Economist MBA Rankings
To determine the rankings The Economist surveys thousands of MBA students and asks them why they decided to enrol on a full-time MBA programme. A number of different criteria – including quality of the faculty, facilities and career services department – are used the weighting for each criteria are based on the importance students themselves place on different criteria.
All three Australian business schools performed particularly well in the student quality criteria with UQ being the top-ranked school in the world, while Macquarie ranked third and Melbourne Business School ranked 16th.
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 Business 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 biennial 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.
