Financial Times releases 5th Annual International MBA Survey; Wharton, Harvard, Columbia Retain Top Positions

Business Wire, Jan 20, 2003

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2003

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania topped Harvard Business School for the number one spot for the third consecutive year in the latest Financial Times International MBA rankings, released today.

This year's top 10 business schools include: Columbia Business School (3rd), Stanford University (4th), University of Chicago (5th), France's Insead (6th), London Business School (7th), NYU's Stern School of Business (8th), Northwestern University's Kellogg, (9th) and MIT's Sloan (10th).

In the wake of turbulent market conditions, MBA programs worldwide face difficult questions about what and how they teach. Many business schools have raised the profile of ethics in coursework. Today's fifth annual Financial Times MBA supplement ranks the top 100 full-time programs in the world, and includes the most up-to-date information on three-year average performance, salaries, career progression, employment, student and faculty ratio, international focus, and much more.

U.S. business schools dominated the FT rankings, claiming eight of the top 10 spots. Overall, 65 of the top 100 schools are based in North America, 16 are in the UK and Ireland; 12 are in Europe; five are in Asia and Australia; and two are in South America. Each program is evaluated using a number of criteria, including alumni career progression after the MBA, school diversity and research.

Monday's Financial Times supplement provides rankings of certain business specialties, such as finance, entrepreneurship and organizational behavior. The top schools in these "best in class" rankings are listed below.

-- Best in Finance: NYU's Stern

-- Best in Entrepreneurship: UCLA's Andersen School

-- Best in Organizational Behavior: Case Western Reserve's Weatherhead

-- Best in Economics: University of Chicago's GSB

For more information and a complete listing of the top 100 global business schools, pick up the January 20th 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. Columbia Business School

4. Stanford University GSB

5. University of Chicago GSB

6. Insead

7. London Business School

8. New York University: Stern

9. Northwestern University: Kellogg

10. MIT: Sloan

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 2.7 million unique monthly visitors and generates 55 million page views. The Financial Times Group is part of Pearson plc, and is listed on both the London (LSE: PSON), and New York Stock Exchanges (NYSE: PSO).