The Financial Times’ renowned EMBA ranking is the leading MBA program ranking worldwide and one of the most important points of reference for prospective MBA students. Achieving a good position in this prominent ranking is crucial for business schools around the world. “Our excellent place in this year’s ranking is not only a great success for us, it also confirms to our alumni that they made the right choice. 23 places up in the overall ranking, and significant improvements in 11 of the 16 evaluation criteria – that’s a clear signal,” says WU Executive Academy Dean Barbara Stöttinger. WU Rector Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger is also proud of the excellent results the Global Executive MBA program has achieved in this year’s ranking. “I’m very pleased that the Global Executive MBA has continued the positive trend, following our excellent 13th place in the Masters of Management Ranking and the excellent positions achieved by our master’s programs in Quantitative Finance (place 20) and Strategy, Innovation, and Management Control (place 18) in the QS Business Masters Rankings. These results show that WU’s academic programs are held in high regard around the world and that we’ve carved out a place among the world’s leading business and economics universities.”

CSR and changes in how criteria are weighted

For the first time in a while, this year’s Financial Times EMBA Ranking introduces some changes in its methodology: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been added as a new ranking criterion (accounting for 3% of the overall ranking). In this category, the Financial Times looks at how many of a program’s curriculum modules deal with topics related to CSR, ethics, and social and environmental issues. The different criteria have been re-weighted, and one interesting change is that the ranking now places more emphasis on gender-related factors. “The ranking now gives significantly more weight to three categories that measure the percentages of female faculty, female students, and women on the advisory board. Together, these categories now account for 12% of the overall score, up from 9% previously. Diversity is becoming more and more important in the Financial Times ranking, and we welcome this development,” Barbara Stöttinger explains.

What the Financial Times EMBA Ranking means for students

“Of course this result is great news for us at the Executive Academy because it shows that all the hard work of the past few years is paying off and we’re heading in the right direction. But what’s more important is to look at what this achievement means for our students and alumni,” Barbara Stöttinger points out. The topics included in the ranking cover three general areas: career development, diversity at the school, and research/CSR (new). In the field of career development, the Global Executive MBA achieved significantly higher scores compared to the previous year in the following categories: salary increase (+47%), career progress (place 67 out of 100), aims achieved (78%). The scores were even better in the field of diversity, where the program achieved better ratings in five out of seven categories (including the three gender-related categories). In the field of research, WU’s Global Executive MBA climbed four positions compared to the 2017 ranking, and the program’s curriculum also did very well in CSR-related areas, coming in at 43rd place in this field.