London Business School (LBS) ranked number one in this year’s Financial Times global rankings of MBA programs, released today. Sharing the top spot with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School last year, LBS this year claimed the honor all for itself.
Wharton came in second this year, followed by Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business and INSEAD. To view the full rankings, click here.
LBS’s strong showing was due in great part to the broad educational experience it offers, according to the FT. “One of the best decisions of my life was to go to LBS for a full-time MBA,” one alumnus reported. “[It] has enriched my life, from education to career development, to making new friends and gaining new perspectives.”
Another added: “You not only learn from the school curriculum but from the deep cultural diversity of the student population. There is no place else that can offer this advantage to the extent that London Business School does.”
In a statement announcing its second consecutive top ranking, LBS Dean Sir Andrew Likierman pledged that the school will maintain its international diversity and global reach.
LBS is one of only three schools to have held the number one spot since the rankings were launched in 1999, and it is the only non-U.S. school to do so. According to an FT report accompanying the 2010 rankings, the school’s gradual ascent from eighth place 12 years ago to first today indicates as a broader trend the diminishing dominance of U.S.-based schools over the past decade.
The number of U.S. schools in the FT rankings’ top 25 has decreased over the years, from 21 in 2001 to 11 this year. The remaining 14 schools in the top 25 for 2010 include 11 from Europe and three from Asia.
The FT attributed this shift in great part to the fact that the return on investment for studying toward an MBA – measured in terms of salary increase – has fallen since 2005, and most significantly so in the United States.
But in spite of a weaker showing in the top 25, U.S. schools still make up the majority of the top 100 ranked programs, claiming 56 in this most recent ranking. The United Kingdom, with 17 of the top 100, is the second most represented country, and overall schools from 20 different countries appear, the FT added.
