cover for Masters in Management rankings September 2013. Illustration by Neil Webb
© Neil Webb

The 2013 Financial Times masters in management (MiM) ranking features the top 70 programmes for students with little or no previous work experience. European business schools continue to dominate but this ninth edition includes a school from Australia for the first time and the first Russian school to feature in any FT ranking. The tables are based on a survey of schools and alumni who graduated in 2010.

The University of St Gallen in Switzerland is top for the third year running. It is first for value for money and aims achieved, second for the effectiveness of its career service and fifth for salary. Its cohort is one of the most internationally diverse, and the school is in the top 10 for student mobility and international exposure.

Graduates commend St Gallen for its strategic and entrepreneurial background, and value the alumni community. “This programme allowed me to join a very strong alumni network,” says Nina Kaspar, a consultant at Bain & Company in Singapore. “I made life-long friends … and the senior alumni are my mentors and support me in my career.”

Germany’s WHU Beisheim is ranked third, its best score. New entrants include Calcutta’s Indian Institute of Management at 19 and Iéseg School of Management and ESC Rennes in France at 24th and 36th respectively. The University of Sydney Business School is ranked 49th while St Petersburg State University GSOM is 65th.

Unlike their MBA counterparts, MiM students say increasing pay is not their main motivation. They are also much keener to enhance their international mobility. The chart (right) analyses the number of respondents who studied in Europe and, three years later, now work there. The arrows in and out of regions show the flow of graduates from region of study to that of employment.

More than a third of alumni who studied in south and southwest Europe now work elsewhere. Most schools in the region send students abroad on exchange programmes or internships, many of whom are eager to work in other countries. “My masters gave me the opportunity to work abroad and opened the doors [for me] to start an international career,” says Daniel Nicolas, a French Skema graduate now working in Ireland.

The map shows little difference between the number of alumni who studied in the UK and Ireland and those who now work there. Net migration is virtually nil, but this conceals a significant flow of graduates. Roughly 80 per cent of students who studied in the UK and Ireland were from overseas. Most returned home afterwards. They were replaced in almost equal numbers by graduates mostly from continental Europe, India, the US and China.

Northwest and central Europe show the biggest gain in terms of net migration, from about 880 graduates at the time of study to 1,100 now working there. Germany and Switzerland are the main destinations for international graduates. Job prospects are relatively good and nationals are returning after graduating overseas.

Flows in and out of eastern Europe were marginal. Only a small proportion of students come from abroad and most graduates work in their home country.

The main destinations outside Europe for those who graduated from European schools are the US, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.

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