The FT’s masters in management ranking is an evaluation of pre-experience masters programmes in general management offered by leading business schools .

This is the third year that the FT has published this ranking. In 2005, 30 schools participated and 25 were ranked. This year, 48 schools took part and 40 are ranked.

The ranking is compiled using data from two sets of surveys: one is completed by alumni who graduated from the respective programmes three years ago, in 2004, and the other by the business schools.

The FT contacted 9,078 alumni and 3,782 of them completed an online survey – a response rate of 42 per cent, 6 per cent higher than last year.

Each year, an elite subset of students participate in the Community of European Management Schools (Cems) master in international management programme and, if successful, are awarded a second degree, in addition to the home degree of their alma mater. There are 17 European universities that are members of Cems. Those alumni who completed the Cems programme were asked to evaluate both degrees when they filled in the online questionnaire.

Data from alumni questionnaires are used to determine the rankings in six of the 16 criteria, from “weighted salary (€)” to “placement success rank (€)” and “international mobility rank (€)”. The figures in the first column – “salary today (€)” – are also based on data from alumni questionnaires but are not used in any of the calculations for the ranking.

The following process is applied to salary data before it is used to calculate the salary figure presented in “weighted salary”.

Salary data of alumni working in the non-profit and public service sectors, or who are still full-time students, is removed.

Purchasing power parity (PPP) rates supplied by the World Bank are then used to convert the remaining salary data to US$ PPP equivalent figures. PPP rates are rates of currency conversion that are applied to iron out differences in purchasing power between different currencies – in this case, so that alumni salary data can be standardised.

After this conversion has been completed, the very highest and lowest salaries are excluded before the average salary is calculated for each school.

For larger schools – those with more than 50 alumni responses – there is one further stage in the process: the average salaries are weighted to reflect the variation in salaries between different employment sectors (see graphic).

The weights are derived from a breakdown of the sectors in which alumni are working today.

Average salaries within sectors are calculated for each school. The overall sector weights are then used to calculate the proportion that each sector salary average will contribute to the total average figure for a school.

The data that is shown on the table is presented in euros rather than as PPP equivalents. This is achieved by multiplying the final average PPP figure for each school by the average euro rate supplied by the World Bank.

The remaining 10 criteria that contribute to the final ranking, from “employed at three months (%)” to “international board (%)”, “international course experience rank”, “languages” and “faculty with doctorates (%)”, are calculated using data from the business school surveys.

After all calculations have been applied to the data for each of the different ranking criteria, the results are Z-scored on a column-by-column basis. That is, for each criterion on the table, a separate set of Z-scores is calculated.

Z-scores take into account the differences in score between each school in that column and the spread of scores between the top and bottom school.

The Z-scores in each field are then multiplied by the column weights (see table key below). The multiplied Z-scores from each criterion are then added together to give a final score for each school. This final score is presented as the school’s overall rank for 2007.

All the criteria that contribute to the final ranking have underlying Z-scores, but in the table the data is presented as euro equivalents, ranks, percentages, or in the case of languages, the number of languages required on graduation.

The five columns at the end of the table from “Course fee (€)” to “Company internships (%)” do not contribute to the rankings. They are displayed for the information of the reader; the business schools supply this data.

Additional research by Wai Kwen Chan and Shilpa Viswanath

Database consultant: Judith Pizer of Jeff Head Associates, Amersham, UK

Masters in Management 2007: Table Key

Key to the table (weights are in brackets for criteria which contribute to the ranking):

Salary today €: An average of salaries three years after graduation. The figure shown is in euros. It is NOT used in the ranking.

Weighted salary € (20): The ‘salary today’ figure adjusted for salary variations between industry sectors. The figure shown is in euros.

Value for money rank (5): The rank is calculated using alumni salaries three years after graduation and course costs. The length of the course is also taken into consideration.

Careers rank (10): The career status of alumni three years after graduation. Progression is measured according to level of seniority and the size of company in which they are employed.

Aims achieved % (5): The extent to which alumni fulfilled their goals or reasons for doing a masters in management. This is measured as a percentage of total returns for a school.

Placement success rank (5): Alumni who used the careers service at their business school were asked to rank its effectiveness in their job search.

Employed at three months % (5): The percentage of the most recent graduating class that were in employment three months after graduation. The figure in brackets shows the percentage of the class for which the school was able to provide employment data.

Women faculty % (3): Percentage of female faculty.

Women students % (3): Percentage of female students.

Woman board % (1): Percentage of female members of the advisory board.

International faculty % (5): Percentage of faculty whose citizenship differs from their country of employment.

International students % (5): Percentage of students whose citizenship differs from the country in which they are studying.

International board % (2): Percentage of the board whose citizenship differs from the country in which the business school is based.

Faculty with doctorates % (6): Percentage of faculty with a doctoral degree.

International mobility rank (10): A measure based on changes in the country of employment of alumni between graduation and today.

International experience rank (10): Weighted average of four criteria that measure international exposure during the masters programme.

Languages (5): Number of additional languages required on graduation from the masters programme.

Course fee (€): The minimum programme fees in euros. This includes all fees required to complete the programme but for the masters portion only.

Course length (months): The length of the masters programme.

Number enrolled 2006/07: The number of students who enrolled on the first year of the masters programme in the past year (September 1, 2006 - September 1,2007).

Relevant degree: Indicates whether an undergraduate degree in management, business or economics is required to enter the masters programme.

Company internships (%): The percentage of the last graduating class that completed company internships as part of the Masters programme.