posted on Jan. 22: School of Business’s MBA program one of top 100 in world

McMaster's Michael G. DeGroote School of Business has again earned a spot on the Financial Times top 100 list of MBA programs in the world.

With more than 1500 MBA programs available across the globe, the Financial Times MBA 2002 list features the elite of the world's full-time business schools. In its third year, the survey provides a comprehensive assessment of the value of an MBA and the schools that offer them.

McMaster placed first among the Canadian entries for the second year in a row in the “placement success” category. This category is defined as the percentage of 1998 alumni that gained employment with the help of career advice.

The School of Business also led the Canadian delegation in the “FT research rank” category, which is compiled from a rating of faculty publications in 35 international academic and practitioner journals.

This placing further emphasizes McMaster's standing as a research-intensive business school as determined by a University of Alberta survey, which rated the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business second among all Canadian MBA schools.

Rankings were compiled from two questionnaires, one completed by the business school and the other completed by the class of 1998. A response rate of at least 20 per cent was required for the business school to participate in the survey.

In the overall rankings, the School of Business ranked 88th this year, down from 80th spot last year.

This is largely due to the fact that salary data figured prominently in the survey. While most other MBA schools cater to professionals with several years work experience, McMaster subscribes to an experiential learning philosophy, and accepts younger students with as little as one year of work experience into the full-time and co-op programs.

As a result, graduates from the School of Business report lower salaries than those reporting mid-career salaries after graduating from other schools. The school's rankings rose in nine categories, with only a slight decline in two areas.

“Weighted salary” and “salary percentage increase” were the most heavily rated indicators, representing 40 per cent of the total overall points.

The “FT Research rating” was the next highest rated indicator, with a value of 10 per cent. Salary data was standardized and converted to U.S. dollars with purchasing power parity exchange rates estimated by the World Bank.

American schools dominated the rankings, with 56 appearing on the list and eight featured in the top 10. Eight Canadian schools made the rankings this year, down from nine last year. Concordia and University of Alberta did not appear on the 2002 list and University of Calgary made its debut appearance.