Financial Times Global Masters in Management Ranking: France, best represented country in 2022

For the 18th year, the Financial Times (FT), a major British daily newspaper, has published its traditional world ranking of the 100 best masters’ courses in management. This ranking is a much-awaited indicator, both for students and for the schools themselves, since it lists the best international business schools. Despite the ever-increasing number of institutions included (135 this year against 124 in 2021), French schools are increasingly distinguished.

Close to a quarter of French schools in the top 100

According to the Financial Times, European business schools “lead the best master’s courses in management available in the world”. As for French institutions, the FT notes that they “alone present four of the 11 top programmes and almost a quarter of the top 100 in the Financial Times 2022 ranking”.

More precisely, 4 French institutions appear in the Top 10:

•  HEC (2nd position worldwide);
•  ESCP Business School (5th);
•  ESSEC (6th);
•  emlyon Business School (9th).

Follow 9 additional institutions, which sets to 13 the number of French Masters’ courses in management ranked in the Top 50:

• EDHEC (12th);
• IESEG (26th);
• NEOMA BS (32th);
• EXCELIA (36th);
• Grenoble Ecole de Management – GEM (37th);
• SKEMA (41th);
• AUDENCIA (47th);
• Rennes School of Business (49th);
• TBS Education (50th);

11 additional institutions are present from the 51st to the 100th place of this ranking, which together make the Top 100 best business schools in the world. For France, these institutions cover the entire French territory: Montpellier Business School, ICN Business School, ESSCA School of Management, Burgundy School of Business, IAE Aix-Marseille, Institut Mines-Télécom Business School, EM Normandie Business School, ESDES Lyon Business School, EM Strasbourg Business School, ESC Clermont Business School and Paris School of Business.

Two main criteria to make this ranking

The Financial Times has based its ranking where “the continent’s business schools lead but global competition is growing” on two main criteria.

Firstly, it relies mainly on a survey directed towards alumni to assess:

• their integration into the labour market;
• income and quality of the position held;
• international mobility during and after course
• career development;
• overall satisfaction with the course provided and its suitability for the position held.

In addition, the institutions providing the course are taken into account in a more general way, by evaluating in particular

• the academic level of the institution
• the degree of internationalisation of the course and of the students
• the proportion of women among students and teachers.