When INSEAD welcomed its inaugural Masters in Management cohort in September 2020, the 97 students from 32 nationalities and 5 continents embarked on a 14-month journey to prepare them to make a positive impact in today’s society.
The MIM Class of 21 has already had a positive impact, helping to propel INSEAD to #1 in the FT European Business School Ranking for the first time since the regional ranking began in 2004.
The ‘business school for the world’ has already achieved the #1 position in other Financial Times Business School Rankings. In 2016, INSEAD became the first business school with a one-year MBA program to secure the #1 spot in the FT Global MBA Rankings.
The full-time MBA maintained the position in 2017, and again attained the #1 ranking in 2021. And this year, INSEAD secured the top position in the custom programme executive education category.
But the FT European Business School Rankings is based on the overall scores that each school in the region has achieved for the rankings in which it features – MBA (25%), EMBA (25%), MiM (25%), Exec Ed Open (12.5%) and Exec Ed custom (12.5%).
Without a score for the Masters in Management, INSEAD has never placed better than #3. But 2024 has been a great year of FT rankings for the school with campuses in Fontainebleau, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and San Francisco. Beyond #1 for custom executive education, the MBA ranked #2 globally, the Global Executive MBA (GEMBA) achieved #9 globally, and the of course the MiM debuted at #3 globally.
For the Dean of INSEAD, Francisco Veloso, “This remarkable distinction reflects the consistent excellence in everything we do at INSEAD – from our world-class faculty delivering impactful programmes and groundbreaking research, to our ability to drive innovation and create value at every level of business education.”
Beyond INSEAD’s climb to #1, the top of FT 2024 ranking is consistent with the previous year. HEC Paris, last year’s leader, dropped to second place but maintained its excellence in executive education, sharing first place in open programmes. London Business School rounded out the top three, with consistency across each programme category.
IESE Business School and ESCP Business School complete the top five, with ESCP particularly notable for achieving the highest EMBA salary figures ($363,789) among all ranked schools.
Elsewhere in the top 10, France’s ESSEC Business School is the only other climber, up one place to #8. St Gallen saw the biggest drop among the top 10, falling 3 places to #9, ahead of Madrid’s IE Business School which slipped 2 places to #10.
The Financial Times’ 2024 European Business School Rankings reveal a landscape of both stability at the top and dramatic shifts further down, with French and UK institutions continuing to dominate the elite positions while several schools made remarkable climbs up the rankings.
Major Climbers:
- Skema Business School, which in 2023 did not rank for MBA, EMBA or MIM, leapt 45 places to reach 26th position
- EBS Business School surged 31 places to claim the 50th spot
- University of Porto – FEP | PBS advanced 14 places to 39th
- Cranfield School of Management improved by 12 places to reach 25th
- Trinity College Dublin rose 8 positions to 24th
Significant Declines:
- Solvay Brussels School experienced the steepest drop, falling 22 places to 78th
- Koç University Graduate School of Business and ICN Business School both declined 20 positions
- Frankfurt School of Finance and Management fell 15 places to 41st
- Bayes Business School (formerly Cass) dropped 17 spots to 44th
- University of Cambridge: Judge declined 8 positions to 28th
Category Leaders Show Specialised Excellence
The individual category rankings reveal interesting patterns of excellence across different dimensions of business education:
MBA Programmes: SDA Bocconi leads with the highest MBA salary ($202,534), while IESE Business School shows the strongest salary increase at 139%.
Executive MBA: ESCP Business School dominates with the highest EMBA salary ($363,789), followed by HEC Paris ($269,613 for its main program, with a joint program reaching $421,699). This demonstrates the continuing premium value of an EMBA.
Faculty Excellence: The rankings show strong faculty diversity across top institutions. IE Business School leads in female faculty representation at 48%, while IESE Business School tops international faculty presence at 95%. Several schools, including IESE, achieved 100% in faculty with doctorates.
The New Entrants and Countries Making Their Mark
The 2024 rankings welcomed several newcomers, including Maastricht University School of Business and Economics (#80), University College Cork: IMI/CUBS (#83), IQS Universitat Ramon Llull (#84), University of Bath School of Management (90th), and Catolica Porto Business School (#94).
Much like in football and politics, Portugal punches above its weight in the FT European Ranking. The country now considered to be the California of Europe has six business schools in the top 100, with Nova School of Business and Economics, Catolica Lisbon and University of Porto (PBS) among the top 40.
France continues to demonstrate particular strength, with three schools in the top 10 (Insead, HEC Paris, and ESCP Business School). The UK maintains its significant presence with London Business School leading its contingent at third place, though several British institutions saw notable declines.
Looking Ahead
The FT rankings increasingly reflect the increasing importance of sustainability and digital transformation in business education, with many rising schools highlighting these areas in their programs. The continued strength of traditional powerhouses alongside the rise of some lesser-known institutions suggests a healthy dynamism in European business education, promising continued evolution and improvement in the quality and diversity of business education across the continent.
For prospective students, the rankings underscore the importance of looking beyond overall positions to examine specific strengths aligned with their career goals, whether in MBA, EMBA, or specialized programs.
And European business schools have everything to play for in the coming years with Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. election.
Many of the schools attending the GMAC Annual Conference Europe in Lisbon two weeks after the White House results, indicated that they had already seen a sharp rise in enquiries from international candidates who were looking at alternatives to pursuing their Graduate Management Education in the United Stated.
Many also reported a sharp increase in enquiries from US citizens looking to study in Europe in the near future. It is not just Emily who has fallen in love with le vieux continent.