Financial Times ranking 2021 of management schools: France leads European countries

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With 22 schools ranked among the best European business and Management schools, France leads the prestigious annual ranking made by the Financial Times. Out of 95 schools assessed and awarded, 22 are implemented in France, 19 in the United Kingdom, and 6 in Germany.

The Financial Times (FT), British financial and economic daily newspaper and a reference publication in Europe, presents every year a ranking of the best business schools. For its 18th publication, the ranking confirms the place of France and its schools, among the most acknowledged in the world.

Five French institutions in the Top 10

“French schools are maintaining their predominance thanks to solid offer of training courses in management”, says Financial Times, that chose two French institutions to occupy the Top 3 of its ranking.

HEC leads the groups for the third consecutive year, while Insead took the 3rd place. In the Top 10 are two additional French institutions: Essec and Edhec (10th position, a 4 places progress).

In the Top 50 are ESCP Business School (14th), EM Lyon Business School (19th), Audencia Superior School of Business (which experimented a sharp increase from 45th to 31st position), Grenoble Ecole de management (36th), Kedge Business School (40th), Neoma (44th) and Skema (48th).

To be noted that out of 95 European schools ranked, 22 French schools make a breakthrough in this ranking that is expected by students and recruiters, and especially this year.

A “ranking of rankings”

To assess schools and create its ranking, a “ranking of rankings”, the FT uses a mix of several thematic rankings. Many criteria were used to create the ranking, such as the career of teachers, the quality of teaching and greeting, the cost of studies, the results of graduates and their job wage, their opportunities to boost their career.

Additional more general factors are also used, such as the openness towards the international or the quality of research, but also the gender of students, teachers and directing entities of schools.

A context of high pressure

The FT notes that the 2021 ranking “is published at a time of great pressure on business schools, because of the pandemic that led to the closing of borders”, a situation that “limits studies in presence and push some students into hesitation to apply for a job”.

Thus, says the FT, schools were forced “to adapt to only and hybrid learning” and face on the one hand “the growing competition from this type of alternative training course” and on the other hand “the growing pressure to reduce costs while the pandemic continues”.