best business schools in the world
You will find useful information in this report on best business schools in the world, the best business school or the best business school in the country.
Collegelearners offers extensive information on best undergraduate business schools in the world, best international business schools in the world, best fashion business schools in the world, best graduate business schools in the world, and best online business schools in the world.
The recently released QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020 features 501 of the top higher education institutions to study business.
The QS Rankings by Subject are based on four indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per paper and the H-index (a way of measuring the productivity and published work of a scientist or scholar). You can find more details about the methodology behind the subject rankings here.
Read on to learn more about the best business schools in each region. Alternatively, if you would like to explore the 501 schools in further detail, click here to view the full table.
| Top 10 Business Schools in the World Based on the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020 | ||
| Rank | Name of Institution | Location |
| 1 | Harvard University | United States |
| 2 | INSEAD | France |
| 3 | London Business School | United Kingdom |
| 4 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | United States |
| 5 | Stanford University | United States |
| 6 | University of Pennsylvania | United States |
| 7 | Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi | Italy |
| 8 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom |
| 9 | HEC Paris | France |
| 10 | London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) | United Kingdom |
| See the full ranking for business schools here > |
The Best Business Schools according to Forbes
| Rank | School | Location | 5-Year MBA Gain | Years to Payback | Pre-MBA Salary | 2018 Salary | Tuition | GMAT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Chicago (Booth) | Chicago, IL | $94.4 K | 3.9 | $83 K | $245 K | $149 K | 730 | |
| #2 | Stanford | Palo Alto, CA | $90.8 K | 4.2 | $86 K | $250 K | $144 K | 732 | |
| #3 | Northwestern (Kellogg) | Evanston, IL | $89.6 K | 3.9 | $76 K | $215 K | $150 K | 740 | |
| #4 | Harvard | Boston, MA | $86.5 K | 4.1 | $88 K | $230 K | $161 K | 730 | |
| #5 | Pennsylvania (Wharton) | Philadelphia, PA | $84.7 K | 4.1 | $92 K | $230 K | $158 K | 732 | |
| #6 | Dartmouth (Tuck) | Hanover, NH | $82.7 K | 4 | $84 K | $233 K | $153 K | 720 | |
| #7 | Columbia | New York, NY | $80.9 K | 4.1 | $82 K | $230 K | $160 K | 740 | |
| #7 | MIT (Sloan) | Cambridge, MA | $80.9 K | 4.1 | $80 K | $215 K | $154 K | 730 | |
| #9 | Cornell (Johnson) | Ithaca, NY | $78.3 K | 4 | $68 K | $195 K | $142 K | 700 | |
| #10 | Michigan (Ross) | Ann Arbor, MI | $78 K | 3.9 | $72 K | $180 K | $140 K | 720 | |
| #11 | UC Berkeley (Haas) | Berkeley, CA | $74.9 K | 4.1 | $88 K | $205 K | $126 K | 730 | |
| #11 | Yale | New Haven, CT | $74.9 K | 3.9 | $68 K | $198 K | $146 K | 730 | |
| #13 | Virginia (Darden) | Charlottesville, VA | $72.6 K | 4 | $70 K | $185 K | $142 K | 720 | |
| #14 | Duke (Fuqua) | Durham, NC | $71.1 K | 4 | $70 K | $184 K | $144 K | 710 | |
| #15 | UNC (Kenan-Flagler) | Chapel Hill, NC | $70.1 K | 3.8 | $65 K | $161 K | $131 K | 700 | |
| #16 | UCLA (Anderson) | Los Angeles, CA | $67.3 K | 4 | $73 K | $190 K | $131 K | 710 | |
| #17 | Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) | Pittsburgh, PA | $65.7 K | 3.9 | $70 K | $185 K | $134 K | 700 | |
| #18 | Texas-Austin (McCombs) | Austin, TX | $65.2 K | 4.1 | $68 K | $184 K | $109 K | 710 | |
| #19 | Indiana (Kelley) | Bloomington, IN | $63.5 K | 3.7 | $55 K | $145 K | $104 K | 680 | |
| #20 | NYU (Stern) | New York, NY | $61 K | 4.1 | $71 K | $190 K | $153 K | 720 | |
| #21 | USC (Marshall) | Los Angeles, CA | $60.4 K | 4 | $64 K | $165 K | $133 K | 710 | |
| #22 | Emory (Goizueta) | Atlanta, GA | $60.1 K | 3.8 | $58 K | $145 K | $132 K | 680 | |
| #23 | Washington (Foster) | Seattle, WA | $60 K | 3.8 | $70 K | $165 K | $100 K | 710 | |
| #24 | Brigham Young (Marriott) | Provo, UT | $59.6 K | 3.9 | $58 K | $145 K | $53 K | 672 | |
| #25 | Notre Dame (Mendoza) | South Bend, IN | $59.4 K | 3.9 | $58 K | $151 K | $112 K | 680 | |
| #26 | Rice (Jones) | Houston, TX | $58.1 K | 3.8 | $60 K | $153 K | $125 K | 710 | |
| #27 | Michigan State (Broad) | East Lansing, MI | $57.7 K | 3.6 | $49 K | $125 K | $103 K | 690 | |
| #28 | Georgia Tech (Scheller) | Atlanta, GA | $56.7 K | 3.8 | $59 K | $143 K | $42 K | 690 | |
| #29 | Washington U-St. Louis (Olin) | St. Louis, MO | $56.5 K | 3.8 | $55 K | $125 K | $119 K | 700 | |
| #30 | Vanderbilt (Owen) | Nashville, TN | $55.3 K | 3.9 | $64 K | $160 K | $117 K | 680 | |
| #31 | Georgetown (McDonough) | Washington, DC | $54.7 K | 4.1 | $64 K | $170 K | $119 K | 700 | |
| #32 | Minnesota (Carlson) | Minneapolis, MN | $54.4 K | 3.8 | $62 K | $143 K | $104 K | 690 | |
| #33 | Texas A&M (Mays) | College Station, TX | $52.7 K | 3.8 | $59 K | $142 K | $77 K | 640 | |
| #34 | Penn State (Smeal) | University Park, PA | $52.5 K | 3.7 | $50 K | $130 K | $88 K | 657 | |
| #35 | Wisconsin-Madison | Madison, WI | $52.4 K | 4 | $65 K | $155 K | $84 K | 680 | |
| #36 | Utah (Eccles) | Salt Lake City, UT | $52.2 K | 3.8 | $48 K | $125 K | $60 K | 650 | |
| #37 | Pittsburgh (Katz) | Pittsburgh, PA | $52.1 K | 3.6 | $40 K | $115 K | $67 K | 640 | |
| #38 | Arizona State (Carey) | Tempe, AZ | $50.8 K | 4.1 | $50 K | $125 K | $97 K | 700 | |
| #39 | Boston (Questrom) | Boston, MA | $50.3 K | 4.1 | $55 K | $134 K | $111 K | 690 | |
| #40 | Purdue (Krannert) | West Lafayette, IN | $49.4 K | 4.1 | $47 K | $127 K | $85 K | 633 | |
| #41 | Ohio State (Fisher) | Columbus, OH | $49.1 K | 4.1 | $55 K | $137 K | $107 K | 685 | |
| #42 | Rochester (Simon) | Rochester, NY | $45.7 K | 4 | $46 K | $126 K | $94 K | 670 | |
| #43 | UC Irvine (Merage) | Irvine, CA | $45.6 K | 4.1 | $50 K | $130 K | $107 K | 680 | |
| #44 | William & Mary (Mason) | Williamsburg, VA | $45.3 K | 3.9 | $44 K | $120 K | $93 K | 620 | |
| #45 | SMU (Cox) | Dallas, TX | $45.2 K | 4.1 | $58 K | $142 K | $106 K | 650 | |
| #46 | Texas-Dallas (Jindal) | Dallas, TX | $44.6 K | 3.9 | $43 K | $123 K | $62 K | 670 | |
| #47 | Maryland (Smith) | College Park, MD | $42.8 K | 4.2 | $47 K | $138 K | $110 K | 635 | |
| #48 | Georgia (Terry) | Athens, GA | $42.7 K | 3.9 | $48 K | $108 K | $69 K | 680 | |
| #49 | Buffalo | Buffalo, NY | $40.5 K | 3.7 | $25 K | $86 K | $57 K | 595 | |
| #50 | Alabama (Manderson) | Tuscaloosa, AL | $39 K | 3.9 | $30 K | $93 K | $66 K | 650 | |
| #51 | Rollins (Crummer) | Winter Park, FL | $38.3 K | 3.8 | $27 K | $84 K | $75 K | 550 | |
| #52 | Case Western (Weatherhead) | Cleveland, OH | $38.1 K | 4 | $46 K | $117 K | $83 K | 625 | |
| #53 | Missouri (Trulaske) | Columbia, MO | $33.7 K | 3.9 | $33 K | $85 K | $68 K | 620 | |
| #54 | Tennessee (Haslam) | Knoxville, TN | $28.5 K | 4.3 | $41 K | $112 K | $63 K | 650 | |
| #55 | Miami | Coral Gables, FL | $27.2 K | 4.3 | $40 K | $116 K | $100 K | 640 | |
| #56 | UC Davis | Davis, CA | $24.1 K | 4.5 | $50 K | $120 K | $114 K | 660 | |
| #57 | Willamette (Atkinson) | Salem, OR | $20.9 K | 4.3 | $27 K | $85 K | $86 K | 545 | |
| #58 | Fordham (Gabelli) | New York, NY | $19.3 K | 4.7 | $50 K | $141 K | $103 K | 640 | |
| #59 | Tulane (Freeman) | New Orleans, LA | $15.6 K | 4.6 | $54 K | $120 K | $117 K | 640 | |
| #60 | Colorado (Leeds) | Boulder, CO | $6.5 K | 4.8 | $47 K | $100 K | $63 K | 610 | |
| #61 | Pepperdine (Graziadio) | Los Angeles, CA | $5.2 K | 4.9 | $45 K | $105 K | $101 K | 600 |
Top business schools in the US and Canada
An impressive 120 business schools in the US and Canada are featured in this years’ rankings, including four in the top 10. Once again, Harvard Business School is the world’s leading business school, retaining the global title for the fifth consecutive year. Outside of the top 10, there are nine US business schools included in the global top 50, including University of California, Berkeley (UCB, 12th place), Northwestern University (14th), Columbia University (18th), Yale University (19th) and New York University (NYU, 20th).
There are 18 Canadian business schools in the ranking, with two entrants making it into the global top 50 – the University of British Columbia is in 40th place, and the University of Toronto in 43rd.
Top business schools in Europe
Europe is the most well-represented region in the business school rankings, with a whopping 205 schools ranked, including six in the top 10. INSEAD is ranked as the best business school in continental Europe for the second year running, and London Business School is once again the UK’s best institution.
Outside of the top 10, the University of Oxford drops one position this year to rank in 11th place. Other notable UK business schools in the global top 50 include The University of Warwick in 23rd, Imperial College London (joint 24th) and The University of Manchester (30th).
In Spain, IE Business School rises a phenomenal 170 places this year, ranking at joint 31st (from 201-250 last year). Further Spanish representation in the top 50 include ESADE Business School (21st) and IESE Business School (29th).
There are a further five European business schools in the global top 50: Copenhagen Business School (15th); the Netherlands’ Erasmus University Rotterdam (17th); ESSEC Business School, Paris (joint 31st); Switzerland’s University of St Gallen (HSG, joint 31st) and Austria’s WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) in 37th.
Top business schools in Asia
There are 104 Asian business schools in the rankings this year, including 12 in the global top 50. The highest-ranked school in Asia is the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 13th place globally. Two other Singaporean schools made it into the top 50 (out of four ranked schools) – Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in joint 24th and Singapore Management University in 39th.
Mainland China is the best represented region in Asia for business schools, with 18 institutions in the rankings, including four in the top 50: Tsinghua University (joint 34th), Peking University (36th), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (joint 44th) and Fudan University in 50th place.
Hong Kong also has a significant presence in the global top 50, with their highest ranked school, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in 16th place. Other notable schools in Hong Kong include the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in joint 41st place and City University of Hong Kong in 48th.
Two schools in South Korea round out the Asian presence in the global top 50 – Seoul National University (SNU) in 38th place and Korea University in 49th. Two Indian institutions, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) – Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) – Bangalore narrowly miss out on a spot in the top 50, both ranking at 51-100.
Top business schools in Australia and New Zealand
There are 30 business schools from Australia and New Zealand featured in this years’ rankings (23 in Australia, seven in New Zealand). Australia’s highest ranked program can be found at The University of Melbourne, which comes in 16th place globally. Other Australian schools in the global top 50 are The University of New South Wales (UNSW, joint 34th), The University of Sydney (joint 41st) and Monash University (joint 44th).
New Zealand has no business schools in the global top 50, but their highest ranked school, The University of Auckland (51-100) scores highly in the research citations per paper and the H-index indicators.
Top business schools in Latin America
There are 23 Latin American business schools featured in the rankings this year, with one program cracking the top 50 – Mexico’s Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) in 47th place. Four other Mexican business schools feature in the rankings. Colombia is the most well represented Latin American country with six business schools in the rankings, followed by Chile and Mexico with five each, Brazil with four, Argentina with two and Peru with one entrant.
Top business schools in Africa and the Middle East
There are five African universities in the business school rankings, with two universities in Egypt and three universities in South Africa. The highest ranked university on the continent is The American University in Cairo, ranked at 201-250.
14 Middle Eastern schools feature in the rankings, with Lebanon’s American University of Beirut (AUB) and the United Arab Emirates’ American University of Sharjah ranking the highest at 201-250. There are a further two schools in the UAE featured in the rankings, as well as three schools in Saudi Arabia and Israel, a second Lebanese school, plus one school each from Jordan, Oman and Qatar.
Leave a Reply