London Business School has achieved the highest position in the Financial Times ranking of full-time MBA programmes ever attained by a European school. It is ranked number two, highlighting the increasingly successful assault by Europe's top schools on a sector traditionally dominated by US schools.

LBS overtook Harvard Business School, Stanford and Columbia, rising from fifth last year to second place. The Wharton school at the University of Pennsylvania retained the top slot, which it has held for eight of the 10 years the ranking has been produced.