I usually never bother too much on business school rankings whether it is Business Week or Financial Times rankings. I came across the latest rankings from Financial Times and a few thoughts came across my mind. The results for this year for top MBA schools globally are as follow:
1/ Wharton School of Business
2/ London Business School
3/ Columbia Business School
4/ Stanford Graduate School of Business
5/ Harvard Business School
London Business School has achieved the highest position in the Financial Times ranking of full-time MBA ever attained by a European school. It is ranked no. 2, highlighting the fact the European school although much smaller in scale is really competitive in a sector which has always been dominated by US schools. Another proof is even one of the UK’s youngest business schools, the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, which began its one-year MBA program only 11 years ago, came 10th, up from 15th last year. LBS overtook Harvard, Stanford and Columbia, rising from 5th last year to 2nd. Good work LBS folks! The Wharton school has occupied the top spots for many years. Harvard, in the minds of many, is still the best school doesn’t matter what the rankings are. As far as I know, even if they rank the bottom there’s no impact on recruitment. One interesting fact is for the first time an Indian business school achieved a place in the top 100. This is really good news. The Indian School of Business in Hyderabad is at number 20. Good work ISB! Many believe that the increase in the number of Asian business schools are driving a new wave of innovation. The FT rankings primarily assess schools in three categories: the success of their alumni; the global focus of the school; and its record in generating ideas. LBS scored highly this year because it ranked third after much bigger schools Harvard and Wharton in research. They have been investing in this for almost decade.
Rotman, University of Toronto (ranks 40th globally) is the highest ranking Canadian school. The Dean has done an impressive job in differentiating the school in a very competitive environment. I really like to see more top schools doing what Rotman is doing, bringing Design and Business together in an interdisciplinary fashion.
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I am seeing a bit of that happening in Europe, Design London was launched in 07 with £5.8 million in funding and the goal of encouraging integrated teaching and research in the areas of product and service development and design. The project is therefore an interdisciplinary effort: Imperial’s engineering department, its Tanaka Business School and the Royal College of Art are involved. The educational ambitions of the project are somewhat impressive. Design and innovation will become core modules this year for students doing an MBA at Imperial. Fellowships will also be on offer to help RCA and engineering graduates learn business skills. In the medium term, it hopes to offer new teaching programs from Jan 09. Design London will improve the integration of engineering, design technology and business.
That’s exactly the kind of people we need to hire for my company. This is what makes our organization unique in addition to our innovation methodology. This is what you’ll find in our job application:
Including with you application please include a piece of work demonstrating that you have engaged in interdisciplinary thinking. “Interdisciplinary Thinking” means using the perspectives, methodologies or modes of inquiry of two or more disciplines in exploring problems, issues, and ideas as you make meaning or gain understanding. You work in an interdisciplinary way when you integrate or synthesize ideas, interaction, or processes across traditional disciplinary boundaries. You should not assume that you are generating interdisciplinary work if you merely use essential skills like writing, speaking, a second language, or to explore content, perspectives and ideas in only one discipline.
