FT Executive MBA Ranking 2021: agility amid the pandemic

A French, a Chinese and a joint US-Hong Kong programme have held on to the a few best places in the FT’s 2021 Govt MBA Rating, in a 12 months marked by ongoing pandemic disruption to do the job and research.

HEC’s Paris Worldwide EMBA regained best location, forward of — in joint second placement — the Kellogg/HKUST EMBA in Hong Kong, which led the 2020 ranking, and the China Europe Worldwide Enterprise College (Ceibs) Worldwide EMBA in Shanghai.

EMBA alumni a few many years just after graduating ongoing to command superior shell out at a time of company uncertainty, with altered typical salaries sampled in both equally 2020 and 2021 up from $276,655 to $281,089.

The selection of learners at foremost company colleges analysed by the FT fell a bit, 12 months-on-12 months. Amongst the 88 colleges rated in both equally 2020 and 2021, the figure went from seven,932 to seven,616, and between the complete of 123 establishments assessed, it dropped from 10,729 to 10,a hundred and eighty.

While lots of elite company colleges have ongoing to entice a powerful world-wide blend of learners to various campuses that they operate by yourself or in partnership, some smaller and regional colleges have endured in modern months with falling intakes.

“We’ve bought some colleges that have shuttered their doors and some with programmes on hold,” explained Michael Desiderio, govt director of Embac, a trade body symbolizing a more substantial group of just about three hundred EMBA companies, together with lots of in the US. “My intestine [claims], globally, course sizing is flat or down, but I do not see demand from customers falling off a cliff.”

The EMBA typically offers training for supervisors and executives who have important prior skilled experience and carry on to do the job when finding out part-time. The rankings are based mostly on actions these kinds of as alumni salaries and how much classes helped them reach their aims a few many years just after completion, as well as the diversity of pupil and training bodies and the high-quality of educational analysis.

The FT’s best a few rated programmes — and lots of others between the one hundred — are supplied at various campuses all around the globe, which has allowed the colleges to give a broad array of encounters and greater flexibility all through limitations on movement.

Both HEC Paris and Ceibs operate from their very own web-sites — in France and Qatar, and in China, Ghana and Switzerland, respectively. Kellogg/HKUST’s EMBA is based mostly in Hong Kong but gives learners the opportunity to research part of the class at other campuses throughout the world.

Yuan Ding, dean of Ceibs, explained pandemic-connected vacation limitations and political shifts in China’s relationship with the west experienced led to “a substantial localisation”. He has noticed a slide in attendance by foreign learners and expatriates, offset by soaring demand from customers from nationals for classes taught in Chinese. “We do not look at globalisation as a fait accompli. You have to present information with domestically applicable subjects,” he explained.

Kathy Harvey, associate dean for MBA and govt degrees at Oxford’s Saïd Enterprise College, rated 12th for its EMBA, explained course sizes were being a little smaller in 2020 and 2021 than right before the pandemic, but that software volumes and high-quality remained powerful. She additional that employers’ willingness to accommodate remote operating experienced allowed contributors to vacation to the United kingdom to attend in-particular person classes just after operating remotely from a resort home very first if topic to quarantine.

“We found as a single-university programme with a good deal of world-wide information, we were being not as impacted as we thought,” she explained, introducing that Saïd introduced “owl and lark” classes so that contributors could join or view recorded discussions at distinctive instances.

The phrases for the previous 12 months were being resilience and agility. We required it of our lecturers, learners and personnel.

The increase in on the internet finding out has increased the scope for learners and visitor speakers to participate in EMBAs. Amongst FT-rated colleges, the proportion of woman learners increased in 2021 to a third of the complete, continuing an enhance from a quarter a ten years back. There has been a related increase in the proportion of woman faculty.

8 of the dozen greatest-rated programmes are operate in various nations, together with the EMBA Worldwide Asia partnership concerning Columbia, London Enterprise College and the College of Hong Kong, and the Trium Worldwide MBA, a joint diploma supplied jointly by HEC Paris, the London College of Economics and New York University’s Stern university.

Together with North America and Europe, China continues to be 1 of the most popular destinations for EMBAs, although rated classes are also supplied in destinations these kinds of as Singapore, South Korea, Russia, Turkey, the Gulf, north Africa and Iran.

“The phrases for the previous 12 months were being resilience and agility,” explained Elizabeth O’Neill, govt director of Trium. “We required it of our lecturers, learners and personnel. We were being foremost and delivering a programme for world-wide leaders who understood for the reason that they were being in organisations likely as a result of very quick modify.”

Pupils want information on electronic transformation, leadership and every thing else. They also want some electronic supply

Faculties and alumni documented powerful curiosity from candidates in finding out about electronic competencies and systems, and seeking to be taught partly on the internet to give them with greater flexibility to balance research, do the job and vacation.

“The primary craze has been a demand from customers for every thing electronic,” explained Andrew Crisp from CarringtonCrisp, an education and learning consultancy. “Students want information on electronic transformation, leadership and every thing else. They also want some electronic supply — particularly . . . to put together right before they get to the classroom, [to] minimize the selection of times absent from do the job.”

Programs rated by the FT must instruct at the very least thirty learners and be hosted by a university accredited by the US-based mostly Affiliation to Advance Collegiate Faculties of Enterprise or the European-based mostly Equis technique.