The Financial Times ranking is based on the salary levels of MBA graduates three years after earning their degree. In the West, business school students who received diplomas in 2001 were considered a "lost generation." The reason is that they had to face the difficulties of the economic downturn and the consequences of the terrorist attacks of September 11. However, according to the latest Financial Times study, the graduates of 2001 managed to survive this period, although many of them initially had to face difficulties in finding work.
Today, the average salary level of those who entered the top ten business schools is $144,492. Harvard Business School graduates earn the most; the school has regained its traditional leadership for the first time since 2000. But Harvard shares first place with another American school, Wharton, which has topped the list for the past four years.
In the top ten, only two schools are from Europe: London Business School and Insead, whose campuses are in France and Singapore. This year, the London school even managed to overtake the University of Chicago's business school. According to Financial Times experts, the rivalry between these two schools will intensify in the near future and turn into direct competition. This will happen immediately after the University of Chicago moves its European campus from Barcelona to London in August 2005.
About 150 educational institutions competed for the right to enter the list of the world's top hundred schools. As a result, the ranking included 58 schools from the United States, 14 from the United Kingdom, seven from Canada, and three each from France, Spain, and China. Historically, the United States has been the leader in this field. Let us recall that the MBA degree appeared in the United States more than a hundred years ago. Today, the financial affairs of the best American schools are quite good; they offer a wide range of courses and MBA programs. There are huge alumni communities that help newly minted specialists obtain well-paid jobs.
However, even today, a number of European MBA programs are not inferior to American ones. Almost simultaneously with the release of the Financial Times ranking, a report by the international GMAC Council (Graduate Management Admissions Council) was published, according to which American leadership in business education may soon come to an end. The report's author, Rebecca Loades, believes that the unification of education systems will allow European governments to popularize national MBA programs.
This will become one of the results of the so-called Bologna Process. In 1999, the Bologna Agreement was signed, under which 29 European countries decided to introduce a unified system of educational standards based on the Anglo-American system of academic degrees: bachelor, master, doctor. Later, 11 more countries joined the agreement. The main goal of the Bologna Agreement was to develop a system of qualifications that would be recognized by employers throughout Europe and allow graduates to work in different countries. According to Council analysts, within five years the number of postgraduate education programs in management on the market could reach 12,000. According to Julia Tyler, director of MBA programs at London Business School, the changes brought about by the Bologna Process will increase the competitiveness of European business schools relative to their American rivals.