IE’s comeback follows the school falling to third place for the first time ever in the 2022 ranking. IE's elevation is largely due to the strong salary increase students achieve after graduation, and the considerable average salary they earn three years post-MBA. These are the FT's two highest weighted metrics.
Despite a consistently strong performance across the various criteria, Warwick's salary increase fell by 3%–from 36% to 33%–a significant hit for such an influential factor.
IE is one of six European schools among the FT's top 10 Online MBA programs, the remaining four are US schools.
IE Business School Takes Top Spot
IE’s Global Online MBA is undoubtedly the biggest winner in the Financial Times 2023 Online MBA ranking, after a five-year absence from the top of the list.
IE graduates earn average salaries of $205,695 per year three years after the program’s end, with graduate salaries increasing on average by 44% post-MBA.
Along with its high average salary and significant salary increase, IE ranks highly for climate conscious factors. It comes first for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) as well as for carbon footprint rank—a new metric this year.
IE also scores well for diversity. It ranks top for female faculty with 49%, as well as achieving gender parity among the board with 50% being female. IE ranks third overall for female students in its cohort with women making up 39%.
Rise and fall among Online MBAs
Overall, most schools who featured prominently in last year's Financial Times Online MBA ranking have seen declines in their positions with three falling out of the top 10 all together. IE is the only business school featured in the 2022 ranking whose position has risen this year..
In Europe, Warwick falls from first to second place, Imperial College Business School falls from second to third, Durham Business School from seventh to eighth and Polimi Graduate School of Management (formerly MIP Politecnico di Milano) drops from sixth to 10th.
In the US, the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler and the University of Florida: Warrington fall from fourth and fifth in 2022 to sixth and seventh in 2023.
The three schools who drop out of this year's ranking are GSM at UNSW, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and University of Bradford School of Management.
This leaves room for some newcomers: Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business comes fourth, University of Massachusetts Amherst: Isenberg in fifth, and University of Liverpool School of Management in 10th.
In its first year in the Online MBA rankings, Tepper’s Part-time Online MBA has made significant strides, scoring highly in a number of criteria. As well as placing fourth overall, it is number one for salary increase at 45% and has the third highest salary, with graduates earning on average $195,90 three years post-graduation.
Amherst: Isenberg’s Online MBA has also made a strong impression on this year's list as the Online MBA with the highest salary, with its graduates earning an impressive $233,284 three years after graduation.
The FT’s Online MBA ranking includes data from two online surveys. The first surveys 23 schools all of which are AACSB or Equis accredited, whose programs must have run for four consecutive years, and at least 70% of the content needs to be delivered online.
The second is of alumni who have finished their Online MBA in 2019, 644 of them completed the questionnaire.
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