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The ranking of global full-time MBA programs by QS Quacquarelli Symonds is dominated by big-name US business schools, with The Wharton School and Harvard Business School coming in second and third for a second year in a row.
Stanford's continued success in this ranking is underpinned by having the world’s best Alumni Outcomes alongside an exceptional performance when it comes to Graduate Employability.
The US-based MIT Sloan School of Management and the UK’s London Business School (LBS) make up the world’s five best business schools, according to QS.
MIT Sloan has jumped to fourth from sixth place in last years ranking, which is largely down to coming joint first in employability along with Wharton. LBS drops one place to fifth, but still secures the title of top European business school, coming in the top five for Employability, Entrepreneurship and Alumni Outcomes, as well as Thought Leadership.
QS President, Nunzio Quacquarelli, said: “The QS Graduate Management Education rankings offer independent insights for career-driven students navigating the global business education landscape.
"Whether aiming to lead in corporations, innovate in start ups, or impact the public sector, students can use these insights to shape their professional paths."
Top 20 MBA programs
Schools in the US and Europe take every spot in the top 20, and have an equal split among the top 10. Only one other US school joins those sitting in the top four spots: Columbia Business School comes eighth in this year's ranking.
The other half of the top 10 business schools are European. London Business School is joined by France's HEC Paris (sixth), the UK's Cambridge Judge (seventh), Spain’s IE Business School (ninth), and IESE Business School (10th)—also based in Spain.
Cambridge Judge is the second UK school to rank among the top 20 and rises from joint ninth to seventh this year, making it one of the biggest gainers among the top 20. It's joined by Imperial College Business School which rises to 18th from 20th. Most business schools remain in similar positions compared with the 2024 ranking.
Having fallen out of the top 10 in last year's ranking, INSEAD hasn't managed to climb up the leader board, placing 11th for the second year in a row.
QS MBA Ranking 2025: Top 20
Winners and losers outside of the top 20
Elsewhere in the ranking, the best MBA outside of Europe and the US remains Asia’s National University of Singapore (NUS), which places 25th this year, dropping one place.
There is only one other Asia-Pacific full-time MBA program ranked by QS among the global top 30: China’s Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management.
As China’s highest-ranked full-time MBA program, according to QS, Tsinghua places 29th. It is Asia’s second highest-ranked MBA due mainly to its Thought Leadership and Return on Investment, for which it ranks 14th and joint 10th, respectively.
Meanwhile, Warwick Business School in the UK sees a big jump this year from 36th to 30th, replacing Australia’s Melbourne Business School (MBS), the next highest-ranked institution on the list that isn't located in the US or Europe. Just behind MBS is another Australian b-school: the University of New South Wales's AGSM, based in Sydney, which drops two places from QS's 2024 Global MBA Ranking.
Other notable performers are Rotman School of Management in Toronto, Canada’s highest-ranked full-time MBA in 39th position; EGADE Business School in Mexico, which ranks 56th, jumping six points from last year and once again taking Latin America’s highest position; and Leeds University Business School in the UK, which sees the biggest jump among all schools in the top 100, rising 30 points to come in 72nd.
QS vs Financial Times, US News Rankings
You should never take one ranking as fact. Instead, compare all MBA rankings, including those published by the Financial Times (FT) and US News, and track a business school’s performance over time.
All three of these rankings differ greatly when it comes to their order. For example, the FT didn't include Stanford in the top 20, whereas both QS and US News ranked it as the world's best MBA.
Rankings also differ in methodologies, which mean results vary. US News ranks University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and Northwestern University School of Management in joint third while the QS ranking places them outside the top 10, ranking 11th and 15th respectively.
INSEAD, which comes second in the FT ranking, ranks 11th in the QS ranking. It is also important to keep in mind that US News only includes American universities, so results will vary significantly with the FT and QS rankings.
QS MBA Ranking methodology
Data for the QS MBA ranking is collected via surveys of employers, academics, and business school staff.
MBA programs are ranked based on five key metrics, with each given different weighting: Employability (40%); Return on Investment (20%); Entrepreneurship and Alumni Outcomes (15%); Thought Leadership (15%); Class & Faculty Diversity (10%).
Employability is the central metric for the QS MBA Ranking, meaning the higher a program is ranked the better your post-MBA jobs prospects are, according to QS.
To be included in the QS MBA ranking, business schools must be accredited by either AACSB, AMBA, or EFMD (EQUIS).
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