Monday, September 20, 2010

The ninth year of the Economist rankings saw a noteworthy swing with B-Schools shifting places significantly. University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business emerged as a clear winner this year. However, Booth was ranked number four last year. IESE Business School, which stood on number one position last year, has been ranked fifth this year.

International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Switzerland, which stood at second position last year, has been left behind by Dartmouth College-Tuck School of Business, placing IMD at the sixth position this year. The difficult job market is the reason behind this significant shift, according to the Economist.

It seems Melbourne Business School has been a major victim of the ‘difficult job market’. MBS has been ranked number 46 this year, which is a very low rank as compared to last year’s 17th position. However, Melbourne Business School has responded saying that the rankings contain a serious error.

                                                                              (Source: www.economist.com/whichmba)

The Economist Ranking Methodology

The Economist full-time MBA programmes ranking was based on an initial selection of 132 leading business schools around the world. The 132 schools took part in two-stage survey which required inputs from schools, students and alumni. Data were collected on the basis of two web-based questionnaires—one for B-Schools and other for students/alumni. A total of 18,712 students and alumni took up the questionnaire.

The detailed methodology is available at http://www.economist.com/node/21010829.

Controversies : Melbourne Business School incorrect ranking issue

B-School ranking is one of the most controversial areas and over the year there have always been issues related to ranking and this year also has not been an exception.

The Economist Intelligence Unit MBA rankings announced on September, 18 2010 contain a serious error, which has resulted in an incorrect ranking for Melbourne Business School.

CoolAvenues spoke to Professor Jennifer George, Dean and Director, Melbourne Business School, on the incorrect ranking issue. “Our record in the Economist ranking is outstanding with a rank of 26 in 2008 and 17 in 2009,” she said. The B-School was ranked number one full-time MBA programme in Asia Pacific by The Economist last year and this year too it is ranked number one in Asia Pacific, even with the error.

According to MBS, the error is the result of the Economist incorrectly recording the MBS student salaries. The average exiting salary of MBS students used by The Economist in its calculations and mentioned in an accompanying media release from The Economist, was US$71,200, which is 22% lower than the true figure of US$91,772.

“It is gutting to realise that an error like this can seriously affect our reputation through absolutely no fault of our own,” says Professor George.

“We have informed the Economist of the error. They have responded but have not mentioned how the error occurred. We are in discussions with them to amend and update the ranking,” she concluded.