European Business Schools Ranking 2022: methodology and key

This is the 19th annual Financial Times European Business Schools Ranking. It is a composite ranking based on the combined performance of Europe’s leading schools across the five main rankings of programmes published by the FT in 2022: MBA, Executive MBA, Masters in Management (MiM) and the two rankings of non-degree executive education programmes. The Online MBA and Masters in Finance rankings are not included.

The European school rank is calculated after removing non-European schools from each of these main rankings. MBA, EMBA and MiM account for 25 per cent each of each school’s total performance. For Executive Education, the scores obtained for customised and open programmes each account for 12.5 per cent. Schools must have a minimum total weight of 25 out of a possible 100 for all five rankings to be eligible.

Schools ranked with a joint programme receive a proportional share of the programme’s indexed score. For example, Essec gets 50 per cent of the score achieved by its joint EMBA programme with Mannheim — worth 12.5 per cent of the possible 100 total weight.

The ranking measures the schools’ quality and breadth of programmes. Quality is given a greater emphasis so that schools offering high-quality training but not providing all the different courses considered can still perform strongly overall.

European Business Schools Ranking of 2022

See which schools reached our league table of 95 course providers. Plus, read the rest of our coverage here.

An indexed score is created for each ranking. These scores are then added together, according to the weighting above, creating a combined total for each school, which comprises one third of the final score. The remaining two-thirds is an average score, derived by dividing the total score for each school by the number of rankings in which it features.

Scores are not simply based on aggregation of published ranking positions. They are calculated using Z-scores — formulas that reflect the range between the top and bottom school — for the individual criteria that make up each component ranking.

The following rules are specific to the FT composite European ranking:

• Programmes ranked outside the published tables for MBA, Executive Education, Masters in Management and EMBA are taken into consideration. They are shown with an asterisk.

• If a school has more than one programme in the same ranking, a combined weighted score is awarded. HEC Paris receives 33 per cent of the score achieved by the Trium Global EMBA and the remaining 67 per cent from its own single programme.

Judith Pizer of Pizer-MacMillan and Avner Cohen acted as the FT’s database consultants.

Key (weights for ranking criteria in the overall European Business School Ranking are shown in brackets as a percentage)

The European Business Schools ranking is based on the overall scores each school achieved for each ranking in which it features, such as MBA, EMBA, Executive Education and Masters in Management. The composite ranking is not solely based on the data displayed in the European schools table.

MBA

European rank (25): position among European schools that took part in the 2022 FT global MBA ranking.

Salary today ($): average alumni salary three years after completion, US$ by purchasing power parity (PPP). Includes weighted data from the current and two previous years, where available.

Salary increase (%): average difference in alumni salary between pre-MBA and now, three years after completion.

EMBA

European rank (25): position among European schools that took part in the 2022 EMBA ranking.

Salary today ($): average alumni salary three years after completion, US$ PPP. Includes weighted data from the current and two previous years, where available.

Salary increase (%): average difference in alumni salary between pre-EMBA and now, three years after completion.

Masters in Management

European rank (25): position among European schools that participated in the 2022 FT MiM ranking.

Salary today ($): average alumni salary three years after completion, US$ PPP. Includes weighted data from current and two previous years, where available.

Salary increase (%): average difference in alumni salary between completion and now, three years after completion.

Executive Education

Open programmes (12.5): position among European schools that participated in the FT ranking of open-enrolment programmes in 2022.

Custom programmes (12.5): position among European schools that participated in the FT ranking of customised programmes in 2022.

Faculty

Female faculty: percentage of female full-time faculty.

International faculty: percentage of full-time faculty whose citizenship differs from country of employment.

Faculty with doctorates: percentage of full-time faculty with a doctoral degree.