The Financial Times Updates Executive MBA Rankings for 2018
This year's ranking considers corporate social responsibility (CSR) for the first time
The Financial Times has released the 2018 edition of its Executive MBA Ranking, which lists the top EMBA programs globally.
For the third year in a row, the joint EMBA program from Kellogg School of Management and HKUST Business School leads the ranking. This is the ninth time in the ranking's 18-year history that this joint EMBA program has taken the top spot. This program's graduates were making $507,000 USD per year, on average, three years after gradation, the highest of all surveyed programs in the ranking.
In second place is another joint offering: the Trium EMBA program, which is offered through a cooperation by HEC Paris, LSE, and New York University's Stern School of Business.
Holding steady at position number three is the EMBA offered in partnership with Tsinghua University and Insead Business School; the EMBA-Global Asia, offered by Columbia School of Business, HKU and LBS, has dropped two spots to land at number four.
Rising nine positions to break into the top ten is China's CEIBS Business School, which, at position number five, is the highest it's ever been ranked in the ranking's history.
The highest debuting new program is HEC Paris' International EMBA program, which is tied for position number six with WUSTL - Olin's Washington-Fudan EMBA.
The top ten is rounded out by Shanghai Jaio Tong - Antai's EMBA, IESE's Global EMBA, and MIT - Sloan's Executive MBA, in that order.
CSR: Now a factor in the FT's EMBA Ranking
For the first time, the Financial Times has now included corporate responsibility (CSR) as a factor in its EMBA ranking. Particularly, this metric takes into account the proportion of core courses in EMBA programs that focus on CSR, ethics, social and environmental issues. Spain's IESE Business School runs the top EMBA program based on the CSR factor, according to the FT. Students in the school's EMBA program must undertake 150 case studies; solutions for these case studies must include CSR principles.
The FT EMBA Ranking 2018: Big movers
A couple of schools shifted substantially this year. The EMBA programs from Toronto - Rotman, EMLyon, and Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs) all rose 20 places this year, landing at 47, 63, and 67, respectively. Other schools didn't fare so well: Georgia Institute of Technology's EMBA program dropped 16 positions to land at 87; Washington - Foster and Aalto University each dropped 15 positions, taking spots 72 and 93, respectively.
The Financial Time's 2018 Executive MBA Ranking - top 20 programs
| 2018 Rank | School(s) | Program | Change from 2017 |
| 1 | Kellogg / HKUST | EMBA | no change |
| 2 | HEC Paris / LSE / NYU | Trium Global EMBA | +3 |
| 3 | Tsinghhua / Insead | Tsinghua-Insead Dual Degree EMBA | no change |
| 4 | Columbia / HKU / LBS | EMBA-Global Asia | -2 |
| 5 | Ceibs |
Global EMBA
| +9 |
| 6 (tie) | HEC Paris | International EMBA | not ranked |
| 6 (tie) | WUSTL - Olin | Washington - Fudan EMBA | +1 |
| 8 | Shanghai Jiao Tong | Antai EMBA | -2 |
| 9 | IESE Business School | Global EMBA | +3 |
| 10 | MIT - Sloan | MIT EMBA | +1 |
| 11 | ESCP Europe | Europe EMBA | -1 |
| 12 | IE Business School | Global EMBA | +1 |
| 13 | Insead | Global EMBA | -5 |
| 14 (tie) | LBS | EMBA | -4 |
| 14 (tie) | Columbia / LBS | EMBA Global Americas / Europe | -10 |
| 16 | UCLA / NUS | EMBA | -6 |
| 17 | Oxford - Said | EMBA | -8 |
| 18 (tie) | Warwick | EMBA | +7 |
| 18 (tie) | Nanyang | EMBA | +12 |
| 20 | Wharton | MBA for Executives | -5 |