Best MBA in the world: France continues to rise

Students, Institutions

Every year, the Financial Times (FT), a British newspaper reference in economics, publishes its ranking of the 100 best Full-Time MBA training courses. In the 2024 edition, France continues to rise: eight French business schools from seven in 2023 are present, including two in the Top 20: Insead, world 2nd, and HEC Paris.

In total, 132 schools are present, and all are certified Equis or AACSB. They all participated in the ranking process for 2024 and offer at least one Master of Business Administration (MBA), a very high-level international training course in marketing, finance, human resources and management. To create the ranking, the Financial Times methodology relies on 21 metrics. It mostly relies on the answers of alumni three years after their MBA, on the base of eight metrics (56%). The answer of institutions, based on 12 metrics, are the second part of the score (34%), and research data are the last metric (10%). This method has changed over the years to better take into account environmental, social and governance metrics.

Two French institutions in the Top 20

And French institutions ranked had to comply with these metrics, since France, with eight institutions out of 100, is part of the countries with most quotes. Even though the ranking is led by the US, like every year, the Financial Times ranking gives France a sweet spot, and particularly in terms of international mobility and internationalisation of institutions. With eight institutions ranked, France is indeed the third country with most quotes, behind the US and the UK.

In detail, out of eight schools ranked instead of seven in 2023, two are in the Top 20:

First, INSEAD is ranked 2nd, with a very good score in several fields (career progress, salary, internationalisation, environmental stakes);
Then HEC Paris is ranked 12th, up five positions compared with 2023, with a highlight on its excellent position (2nd) in terms of international students’ experience and 5th in terms of professional geographic mobility after their MBA course.

Eight French schools in total in the Top 100

Six additional French schools present all over France, are also included in the Top 100. They are:

ESCP Business School, up two positions to reach the 25th position, which steps out thanks to the share of class hours dedicated by the school to the environmental, social and governance challenges (ESG), according to the Financial Times terminology;
ESSEC makes a breakthrough with 16 positions gained to the 54th position in 2024;
EDHEC at 57th position;
emlyon jumps from 76th 57th (+19);
Audencia is up nine positions to 77th;
Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM), enters the ranking, and ranks 96th this year.