Rankings and Melbourne Business School
Professor Jim Frederickson, Deputy Dean, walks us through the inexact science of global business school rankings, and looks at what they mean for MBS. In business schools, rankings are a contentious topic. Some see them as adding value; others view them as a distraction. At MBS, we view rankings like any other standardised measure – they provide a useful benchmark for measuring performance, but they are imperfect measures due to limitations in their methodologies. Prospective students and alumni also often use rankings; theformer to determine which schools to consider, and the latter to check how the School is performing. MBS participates in those rankings of the MBA, EMBA and Executive Education programs that we believe are the most robust and of value. For the MBA program, the School participates in four rankings: • Financial Times Global MBA Ranking • The Economist Which MBA? Ranking • Bloomberg BusinessWeek International Full-Time MBA Ranking • AFR Boss MBA Ranking The first three rank the Full-Time MBA program, while the last is a
combined ranking of the Full- and Part-Time MBA programs. Each ranking is based on a different student cohort. For the most recent rankings, the Financial Times surveyed the FullTime MBA cohort of 2012; The Economist surveyed the Full-Time MBA cohorts of 2014 and 2015; Bloomberg BusinessWeek surveyed the Full-Time MBA cohorts of 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2015; and AFR Boss surveyed the Full and PartTime cohorts of 2012, 2013 and 2014. The rankings also use different criteria and methodologies. For example, 43 per cent of the Financial Times ranking is based on alumni salaries versus only 20 per cent for The Economist. Plus, the salaries are for different cohorts and different time periods. The Financial Times uses the current salaries of alumni who graduated three years earlier, while The Economist uses the starting salaries of alumni who graduated only a year earlier (in the most recent rankings, 2015 salaries of 2012 graduates versus 2014 salaries of 2014 graduates). For comparability across Schools, each ranking measures salaries in US dollars, but each ranking converts salaries differently. Between different methodologies and student cohorts, it is no wonder that our rank varies across rankings. We are ranked 87th globally by the Financial Times, 43rd globally by The Economist and 23rd for non-US MBA programs by Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Poets & Quants MBA Rankings and QS Top MBA Rankings are two high-profile composite rankings. They use other rankings and external information to determine their rankings; they do not collect information directly from schools or their alumni. MBS performs well, typically being the top-rated Australian MBA program. Unfortunately, MBS lost
the top spot this year in Poets & Quants because they mistakenly excluded our Bloomberg BusinessWeek ranking. As indicated earlier, MBS views rankings as a measure – albeit a flawed one – of the School’s performance. Since Zeger’s arrival, the School has had a renewed commitment to excellence and our students are at the heart of this commitment. Our priority is ensuring that every student has an excellent experience, from the admissions process to graduation to alumni reunions. While there is more work to be done, I am confident that the School is on the right path and is in a strong position to climb higher in the MBA rankings. But remember, because of the cohorts surveyed in the rankings, it can take years for rankings to reflect changes made. Most changes that Zeger made to the School in 2012 will not even begin to affect the Financial Times rankings until next year and they will not be fully reflected until the 2019 rankings. The School participates in two other rankings. The first is the AFR Boss Executive MBA Rankings, which in 2015 surveyed alumni from 2012, 2013 and 2014; the School was ranked 2nd in Australia. The second is the Financial Times Executive Education Rankings. The School has been the top Executive Education provider in Australia since 2008; for 2015, the School was ranked 30th globally. For more about the different MBA rankings, visit our website: <https://mbs.edu/landing-pages/ rankings> If you have any questions about rankings, please contact me at <j.fredrickson@mbs.edu> Jim Frederickson Deputy Dean | MBS
p7