Singapore's top business schools rose up the ranks of
the Financial Times' annual global ranking of Master of Business
Administration (MBA) programmes, released on Monday (Jan 30).
Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) Nanyang
Business School was in joint 24th place with Duke University's
Fuqua School of Business, up from 29th last year.
Just below them was National University of Singapore
(NUS) Business School at 26th place, up from 32nd in 2016.
Insead was named the world's best business school for
the second year running.
Notably, Insead was lauded for its strong international
culture - owing to its two campuses in France and Singapore - and
an extensive alumni network. The FT ranked it third for
international mobility and sixth for international course
experience.
Stanford Graduate School of Business rose to second
place from fifth while Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania
climbed to third spot from fourth.
Several prestigious schools slipped in the 2017
ranking. Harvard Business School fell two places to fourth spot,
the first time in nine years that it has been outside of the top
three. London Business School fell three places to sixth, it's
worst showing in 14 years.
The FT ranking is based on surveys of business schools
and their graduates of 2013. MBA programs are assessed according to
the career progression of their alumni, the school's idea
generation and the diversity of students and faculty.
Three years after graduation, Stanford's MBA graduates
earn the highest annual salaries on average - US$195,000
(S$277,640) - but the top 15 MBA programmes are closely matched in
terms of income, career progress and satisfaction, BusinessBecause,
a business school news website noted from the FT ranking.
All but one of the top MBA courses have alumni salaries
over US$150,000 - a salary increase of at least 100 per cent on
pre-MBA pay.
An NTU MBA graduate goes on to earn US$126,218 on
average while the NUS MBA graduate would be making US$131,760.
In terms of offering good value for money, Nanyang
Business School came in 26th globally, while NUS Business School
was 33rd.