Winners & Losers in FT’s 2013 Ranking

DRAMATIC CHANGES IN YEAR-OVER-YEAR RANKS UNDERMINE THE CREDIBILITY OF THE SURVEY

Although the FT attaches a numerical rank on each EMBA program it ranks, the British newspaper points out that “the pattern of clustering among the schools is equally significant.” Some 245 points separate Kellogg/Hong Kong UST Business School at the top, from the school ranked number 100, discloses the FT. “The first 18 business schools, from Kellogg/HKUST Business School to Kellogg/WHU Beisheim, form the first tier of schools,” The Financial Times said. “The second tier is headed by IMD, about 90 points above National Sun Yat-sen University at the bottom of this group. HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management heads the third tier.”

Not accounting for the EMBA programs that dropped completely off the list, some 24 different programs experienced double-digit changes in their ranks, including the newcomer programs. That level of volatility in a single year greatly undermines the credibility of this list because it’s not possible that year-over-year changes in a program would account for those types of dramatic swings. Instead, the lack of consistency in the ranking suggests that the differences between and among ranked schools is so small as to be statistically meaningless so minute changes or errors can result in massive changes in numerical rank.

EMBA Programs Climbing In Double Digits

EMBA Programs Falling In Double Digits