Methodology - FT Global MBA Ranking 2012

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Methodology

This Ft ranking aims to give athorough assessment of Mbaprogrammes worldwide througha survey of business schools and alumni.

To participate, schools must meetstrict criteria. Most notably, schoolsmust be internationally accredited andthe programme must have run for atleast four consecutive years. this year,150 business schools took part.

Two online surveys are used tocollect the required data. the first iscompleted by the schools, and thesecond by alumni who graduated in2008. For schools to be eligible, a20 per cent response rate is requiredfrom alumni, with a minimum of 20responses. this year, a total of 9,466responses were submitted by alumni,44 per cent of graduates contacted.

Data from alumni questionnaires areused to compile eight of the 20 criteriathat determine the ranking. together,these carry 59 per cent of the ranking’sweight. Published figures for thesecriteria include information collated bythe Ft over three years where available.Data gathered from the 2012 Mbasurvey carries 50 per cent of the totalweight, and those from the 2011 and2010 rankings account for 25 per centeach. except for salary data, if only twoyears of data are available, the weightingis split 60:40 if data are from 2012and 2011, or 70:30 if from 2012 and2010. For salary data, the weighting is50:50 for two years’ data, to negate anyinflation-related distortions. “Value formoney” is based on 2012 figures only.

The first two ranking criteria examinethe difference in alumni salariesfrom the start of their Mbas to the presenttime. the salaries of alumni in thenon-profit and public service sectors,and those in full-time education, areremoved. Purchasing power parity ratessupplied by the International MonetaryFund are used to convert the remainingdata to Us$ PPP equivalent figures,to allow for differences in purchasingpower between countries.

Following this conversion, the meanaverage “current salary” is calculatedfor each school and weighted, for largerschools, to reflect variations betweensectors. the resulting figure, “weightedsalary”, carries 20 per cent of the ranking’sweight. the “salary increase”, alsoaccounting for 20 per cent, is calculatedfor each school according to thedifference in average alumni salarybefore the Mba to the present time,three years after graduation – a periodof typically four to five years. half ofthis figure is calculated according tothe absolute salary increase, and halfaccording to the percentage increaserelative to pre-Mba salaries.

Eleven criteria, collectively accountingfor 31 per cent of the final rank,are based on data from school questionnaires.these criteria includethe diversity of teaching staff, boardmembers and Mba students, accordingto gender and nationality, and theinternational reach of the programme.For gender-related criteria, schools thathave a 50:50 (male: female) compositionreceive the highest possible score.

The table’s final criterion, “Ftresearch rank”, is calculated accordingto the relative number of articlespublished by schools’ full-time facultymembers in 45 internationally recognisedacademic and practitionerjournals. the rank combines the absolutenumber of publications, betweenJanuary 2009 and october 2011, withthe number of publications, weightedrelative to the faculty’s size.

Following calculations for each criteria,an Ft score is calculated for eachschool. First, a Z-score – a mathematicalformula that creates numbers reflectingthe range of the points – is calculatedfor each of the measures. these scoresare then weighted and added together,giving a final total from which theschools are ranked in descending orderto compose the Ft’s Global Mba Ranking2012. – Adam Palin

Judith Pizer of Jeff Head Associates actedas the FT’s database consultant. The FTresearch rank was calculated using theScopus database of research literature.