Hong Kong shines on the Economist top 100 MBA list

Rightly or wrongly, the ranks of different MBA courses weigh heavily when students decide which business school to apply to. It is also a big deal for universities to get onto – or drop out of – the top 100.

The Economist’s 2014 ranking of the top 100 MBA courses starts with a solid list of US universities. In the top 20 there are only five MBA courses from Europe – three from France and one each from Spain and Britain.

The methodology takes into account both hard data and students’ more subjective marks of a school’s performance. It focuses on new career opportunities and personal development and educational experience, which both weigh 35 per cent. The rest is made up by a rise in salary, at 20 per cent, and networking potential, at 10 per cent.

The unbeatable University of Chicago Booth School of Business has kept the top spot for a second year, something which surely benefits admissions to its Hong Kong campus by association.

Booth beat heavyweights Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford and Columbia at their own game. The big four were relegated to sixth, seventh, ninth and tenth, with the equally famous Wharton School in eleventh place.