Wharton Tops Harvard In 4th Annual Financial Times International MBA Survey; U.S. MBA Programs Dominate Rankings

Business Wire, Jan 20, 2002

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2002

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania has topped Harvard Business School for the second year in a row in the latest Financial Times International MBA rankings, released today.

Rounding out the survey's top-10 are: tied for 3rd place - Columbia Business School, Stanford, and The University of Chicago, tied for 6th place - France's Insead and The Sloan School at MIT, 8th place goes to Stern at NYU, 9th place to London Business School, and 10th place goes to Kellogg at Northwestern University.

The MBA has become the degree for internationally-minded professionals. Worldwide, MBA applications have soared as fast-track professionals seek to advance their careers by waiting-out the world's current economic woes. Monday's fourth-annual Financial Times MBA supplement provides answers not only about which schools are best, but also offers insight into which MBA programs provide the biggest salary boost, which programs are the most focused internationally, and which programs are best for women.

U.S. business schools again dominated the FT rankings, claiming seven of the top 10 spots. Overall, 56 of the top 100 schools are based in the U.S., 27 are in continental Europe; 12 are in the UK and Ireland; five are in France and eight are in Canada. Each program is evaluated using three criteria: alumni career progression after the MBA, school diversity and research.

Monday's Financial Times supplement will also provide rankings of certain business specialties, such as finance, entrepreneurship and general management. The top schools in these "best in class" rankings are listed below.

- Best in Finance: University of Chicago GSB

- Best in Entrepreneurship: UCLA: Andersen

- Best in General Management: University of Virginia: Darden

- Best in IT: University of California at Irvine GSB

For more information and a complete listing of the top 100 global business schools, pick up the January 21st edition of the Financial Times, or log-in to FT.com.

Notes to editors:

1.  Top Ten Global Business Schools
    1.   University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
    2.   Harvard Business School
    3.   Tie: Columbia Business School
    3.   Tie: Stanford University GSB
    3.   Tie: University of Chicago GSB
    6.   Tie: Insead
    6.   Tie: MIT: Sloan
    8.   New York University: Stern
    9.   London Business School
    10.  Northwestern University: Kellogg

2.  About the Financial Times & FT.com
    The Financial Times Group, one of the world's leading business
    information companies, aims to provide a broad range of business
    information and services to the growing audience of
    internationally minded business people. The FT newspaper is read
    by more than 1.6 million people worldwide and the FT's website,
    FT.com, reaches 2.4 million unique monthly users and has more than
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    of Pearson plc, and is listed on both the London (LSE: PSON), and
    New York Stock Exchanges (NYSE: PSO).