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It’s forward-looking. Raw energy. A look at the long term and a break with the past. The perspective is there from the beginning, never knowing how far it can go.
A new year is an extension of potential, especially in the realm of education. Schools are starting to pursue big goals, trying new concepts to better talk to students. At a time when knowledge is scarce and fears are stoked, educators don’t fully perceive what topics and what works. Sometimes that means taking a step back before looking to the future.
In 2023, several MBA systems took risks or reached milestones that reflected their potential. They invested in new systems, followed new methods, entered new markets, and hired new leaders. They leveraged their experience, capitalized on their advantages, and learned from their mistakes. At INSEAD, sustainability is the cornerstone of programming. Johns Hopkins Carey Business School has continued to create synergies around the skills of its largest medical university. Columbia Business School and Chicago Booth have disrupted the prestige quo of the most productive MBA systems in the world. And Duke Fuqua and Virginia Darden continued to achieve the harshest effects of any business: satisfied customers.
The business schools to follow reach the year 2024 with momentum. They have invested their time and money wisely, generating the most productive reports and the highest returns. What differentiated them from their peers? More importantly, how will they build on their successes? The greatest satisfaction comes from witnessing expansion and replacement: the realization of potential. Here are the 10 business schools that have been positioned to make the biggest gains in the coming year.
Charles M. Harper Center
Happy Birthday, Chicago Booth!
You’ve also made this a memorable and historic year!
Let’s start with the rankings, where Booth now ranks first in the U. S. MBA rankings. To make that honor sweeter, Booth beat out its intraurban rival Northwestern Kellogg for top honors thanks to higher pay and placement and higher scores in peer and recruiter surveys. The school is also the most sensible in P’s Executive MBA rankings.
In other words, Booth is bringing his to this elite circle that includes Stanford’s GSB, Harvard Business School, and the Wharton School. Power of three? Slowly but surely, U. S. MBA qualifications are turning into a four-way race, with Booth infiltrating the indoor track.
The Class of 2025 made the year ever sweeter. Boasting its largest class in over eight years, the school doubled the size of its underrepresented minority population, while tying its class record for the highest percentage of women. On top of that, Booth set another record for starting pay with the spring class. For many schools, that would be a banner year. For Booth, this news is just a warm up. Many times, institutions celebrate anniversaries by rolling out something new. By this measure, Chicago Booth outdid itself in 2023.
Picture this: Booth hadn’t introduced a new curriculum since World War II. Last July, it announced that it would open two new races in 2024. It starts with a 10-month master’s program in control starting in the fall. , Booth joined Northwestern Kellogg, MIT Sloan, and Stanford GSB to unveil new degree features in MiM. The program begins with a two-week “Boothcamp” before moving on to its five core courses. From there, scholars can delve into five areas. : finance, strategic control, analysis, marketing or entrepreneurship.
“We have seen the power of the Booth MBA for catapulting mid- or later-career professionals,” explains Starr Marcello, deputy dean for MBA programs. “We have seen the power of the Booth MBA for catapulting mid- or later-career professionals. Now we are eager to provide access to those just starting out in the professional world. We believe completing the master in management program at Booth will enable young professionals to marry their passion — whether it be physics, computer science, art history, philosophy, or other areas of the liberal arts or STEM fields — with management skills that position them for high-impact careers.”
Classes in Chicago Booth’s new Master of Management program will be held in downtown Chicago, the third-largest city in the United States.
And Booth didn’t get in the way of the direction. In December, the school announced its second new degree program, a Master’s Degree in Finance, which also begins in the fall. Here, academics can take itineraries of between 10 and 15 months. Following a similar style to the MiM curriculum, academics in the Master of Finance follow a five-course orientation and a core curriculum, before opting for nine electives across 4 spaces: asset management, investment banking, fintech, and financial research. In doing so, they will also face basic concepts and problems similar to spaces such as large enterprises. data, blockchain technology, and synthetic intelligence.
In his announcement, Booth highlighted how the master’s program in finance would give a career edge to a new segment of prospective students. “Chicago Booth’s finance schools are the best in the world,” says Madhav Rajan, Booth’s dean. “They evolved fashionable monetary theory and shaped the evolution of monetary wisdom and markets for more than a hundred years. We’re excited to bring our transformative technique, and the latest inventions in finance, to analytical, talented college graduates.
Booth even delved into a developing field: health care. This included the launch of an MBA-MS in Biomedical Sciences and an MBA concentration in Healthcare. At the same time, the school offers a wide diversity of joint degrees, adding partnerships with Law, Public Policy, Social Work, Computer Science, International Relations, Middle Eastern Studies, and Medicine. This all follows a $100 million spring donation from Ross Stevens, a PhD student in 1996.
“Chicago Booth is the business school of the world, period,” Marcello said in a 2023 interview with P
One of the defining features of Booth, Marcello adds, is flexibility – or choice – or customized – or tailor-made. At its core, Booth believes in student choice. Rather than a lockstep core curriculum, for example, students complete one required course – LEAD (Leadership Effectiveness and Development), which is actually organized by second-year MBA students. Instead, first-years choose from a menu of foundational courses more specific to the interests and gaps – giving them a leg up in transitioning their career path or preparing for their internship.
“I value the ability to create my own academic path,” says Rachel Cohen, a private equity associate before joining the Booth School’s Class of 2025. “Everyone enrolling at Booth is in a different stage of their career and has different skill sets that they want to develop. Booth allows us to take responsibility for what classes will lead to the greatest growth, both personally and professionally.”
Another foundation of the Booth MBA is the Chicago approach. Think of it as a knowledge-driven, evidence-based, science-based methodology. It starts with a methodology that undergoes testing and knowledge research to reveal trends and make projections. It means learning how to gather and interpret applicable knowledge, asking questions at all times and never accepting undeniable answers.
“The Chicago has its roots in core clinical disciplines at the heart of business—economics, accounting, psychology, sociology, and statistics—taught through professors from world-renowned business schools,” Marcello adds in a 2022 interview. “This provides Americans with a sustainable framework; Its portability makes it adaptable to any situation, in any industry, at any time. Our scholars and alumni say that because of Booth’s unique curriculum, and its emphasis on research and empirical knowledge, they are better prepared than their peers to navigate today’s ever-changing, specific business landscape. about knowledge. This has helped them make decisions, boost their careers, and make them highly marketable in many competitive industries.
And the Boothies, as they’re called, can channel Chicago technique into a variety of areas. In the field of sustainable development, MBAs can participate in consulting projects that influence investment funds, corporate social responsibility practices, or the Rustandy Center. The startup ecosystem is centered around the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which provides everything imaginable (funding, expertise, space, courses, expertise) to aspiring student entrepreneurs. MBAs can even sign up for professors at the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence to delve deeper into the latest and greatest have an effect on AI research.
These experiences, says Starr Marcello, makes Booth grads al the more valuable to the world’s top companies. “Employers have indicated that they often seek out Booth students because of their ability to assume critical leadership roles across diverse teams and organizational structures, and to define and execute strategic plans. Booth’s emphasis on analytics and empirical data gives our students an edge by preparing them to take on any evolving business landscape. This, in turn, allows them to launch their careers, becoming highly marketable and impactful in numerous competitive industries, and speaks to the overall value of a Booth MBA.”
Next page: University of California, Davis
Beginnings of GSM
Great, it comes in small packages.
One example: the University of California, Davis, which has a full-time MBA with just under a hundred students. Over the past decade, the Graduate School of Management (GSM) has developed some of the most advanced systems in business education. . Located 30 minutes south of Sacramento – and 90 minutes north of Silicon Valley – GSM has captured the artistic spirit of the region, despite operating in a crowded market. After all, California is home to four of the top 20 graduate business systems: Stanford GSB, UC Berkeley Haas, USC Marshall, and UCLA Anderson.
How do you compete with that? Simple: You shrewdly fill the gaps they miss. That’s exactly what the GSM has done, developing the first online MBA program and only Master’s in Management degree in the University of California system. And the school’s stackable certificates and life-long learning platform may be models for the graduate business marketplace to adopt.
Like many stories, GSM’s story gained momentum with the arrival of a newcomer: H. Rao Unnava. Al becoming dean in 2016, he presented a Master’s Degree in Business Analytics in San Francisco. It now has 100 interns a year, and alumni work at corporations ranging from Meta to Microsoft to McKinsey. Designated STEM, MSBA’s newest elegance 56% women. In addition, 2022 graduates started with $135,000 with signing bonuses of $19,000, one of the most productive returns on investment according to QS.
Gallagher Room
In 2019, Dean Unnava capitalized on the MSBA’s good fortune by implementing an online MBA program, which increased enrollment to 500 students. Ranked in the Top 20 Most Sensible Online MBA Systems via Poets
“We looked around and found that the schools that went after these one-year specialty master’s programs often found it was very difficult to get 40 to 50 students to make economic sense,” says Unnava. “They are struggling trying to keep those programs on the books. We’re starting with a general management master’s in management as a nimble, responsive program so we have infinite possibilities. If AI becomes more important, I can add a concentration into the program. If there is demand for healthcare analytics, I can add a concentration of courses in that field. I can run eight programs in one program. That is an advantage especially when you need to respond quickly to the market. A few years ago, cybersecurity and blockchain were big for three years and then went away. I can put three classes in as electives and when the market cools off, I can put another set of classes into the elective offerings and do something else. That nimbleness is important to take advantage of market trends.”
That nimbleness – or delivery – is further reflected in Unnava’s biggest innovation to date: Stackable Certificates. Credit-bearing, the certificates require four graduate-level courses. Initially, the certificates will cover areas like Finance, Marketing, Leadership, Operations, Analytics, and Management. Don’t mistake these courses for glorified executive education; certificate students are graded just like everyone else. That’s why course credits can be applied towards an MBA degree. Unnava calls it “de-coupling” and sees these certificates as a way to appeal to MBA graduates too.
“The certificates allow us to give you what you need now in your career,” explains Unnava in a 2023 interview with P&Q. “If you got an MBA five years ago, you would have had little to no exposure to how artificial intelligence will impact your company. And if you earned your MBA ten years ago, a lot of what you learned is out of date. The world has changed so dramatically that you need to know the latest thinking in strategy or business analytics or digital transformation. This is a chance to refresh your education.”
Immersion in the food and agricultural industry. Courtesy of UC Davis Photographer, 2/17/23
Perhaps GSM’s flagship innovation is the commercial immersion experience. Think of it as the equivalent of a school board project. The difference? Through partnerships with other UC-Davis schools, MBAs provide a deep dive into what Dean Unnava calls the “most popular industries today and in the future. “This includes agriculture and food, biogeneration and healthcare, generation finance, and sustainable energy. In addition to immersion during courses, MBAs benefit from executive training and mentorship, visits, study projects, and even case competitions. The immersion also ends with a team project, the effects of which are presented to the managers of the GSM partner companies.
Another unexpected feature of the immersion experience in the industry?MBAs don’t just spend time with their business school peers. They also engage with PhD and Master’s students in food science and technology, molecular biology, nutrition, etc. They take on the challenges that come their way through leaders who come up to them and say, ‘This is a challenge you’re facing. ‘How would they deal with it? Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the teams, the answers are sometimes richer than would be imaginable with MBA academics alone. »
In some cases, those dives serve as internships (or tests) for academics. “Over the past six years, we have noticed that approximately 30% of MBA students pursue careers in the industries represented through immersions, which sets us apart from other MBA systems that lack educational strength in those areas,” adds Doyen Unnava.
That said, the industry immersion experience is the only time GSM academics approach the most sensible employers. Aihe Chen, a full-time graduate of the program in 2022, praised the IMPACT task. [Integrate] theories with real-world practice. We partner on a strategic consulting assignment for a consumer company and provide compelling answers to senior executives. Through classroom case studies and the final 10-week hands-on consulting assignment, [you] will gain valuable insights and expand your skills in solving key business problems.
Full-time scholars at Gallagher Hall, 2021.
If you’re a GSM graduate, you’ll soon get the benefits of eos, a lifelong learning platform. This is an innovation that Dean H. Rao Unnava is implementing earlier this month. PAG
PAG
Unnava: “One of the most important projects of the Graduate School of Management is our lifelong learning platform known as eos. Over the past year, we’ve put a lot of effort into preparing for the launch of this platform. Derived from the Greek Word for Dawn, eos represents the beginning of a new era in professional development, one in which our students and scholars will be prepared for what lies ahead. To help them maintain a competitive edge in their careers, eos offers a diversity of opportunities and features in 3 main areas: content, community, and certifications.
The platform contains both original and curated content, including free access to our entire catalog of Online MBA course videos. Students and alumni can also stay on top of the latest developments in business with timely commentary by our faculty and industry experts as well as curated content from other high-quality business sources and invited content from alumni based on its relevance, impact and currency.
The platform includes several features to foster a vibrant community. Alumni and students can join affinity groups, comment on discussions and content, and see who else is in their geographic area. They can register for upcoming school-sponsored events or can host their own virtual or in-person event by posting it on the platform. A job board allows alumni to share opportunities with others.
To keep up with the latest industry advancements and take advantage of new business opportunities, premium subscribers can access more than 1000 on-demand courses and certifications (e. g. , AI, machine learning). Courses and certifications are conscientiously selected to reflect the highest quality in the industry. (through our online spouse 2U/edX). Premium subscribers can also send direct messages to other members, attend live-streamed events, and participate in virtual and synchronous categories presented through the Graduate School of Management.
Even more exciting features are planned for future stages of eos, adding a mobile app and a personalized AI-enforced experience aimed at delivering content recommendations based on an individual’s business goals. The strength of this platform lies in its ability to continuously modify your content and certifications for a committed network equipped with the latest knowledge to facilitate your career advancement.
Dean of the UC-Davis Graduate School of Management, H. Rao Unnava
PAG
Unnava: “The UC Davis MBA offers students a close-knit community that inspires others to achieve, helps others to succeed, builds trust and challenges them as a collaborative leader. A highlight of our curriculum is distinctive Industry Immersions that allow UC Davis MBA students to take a deep dive into Food and Agriculture, Biotechnology, Sustainable Energy or Innovation Finance. These Immersions tap into UC Davis’ research expertise and corporate networks in these areas. Students say these are transformative experiences where they learn from top executives and collaborate in interdisciplinary teams on real solutions to challenges that are critical to the well-being of society.
Our MBA students receive customized guidance on how to maximize the curriculum and career development opportunities to reach their professional goals. Our Northern California location near the dynamic Sacramento region, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Napa/Sonoma, opens doors to internship and career opportunities in tech, healthcare, wine, CPG and more.
Our high-quality faculty, collaborative community, and diverse scholars from California and around the world pursuing rewarding careers are reflected in our recent advancements in MBA surveys, which are among the top 20 most sensible full-time MBA systems at public universities in recent years.
P
Unnava: “One of the most underrated aspects of our MBA program is the limited visibility of our university’s intellectual contributions to academia and industry. One of the reasons for this would possibly be the small number of our study professors (32 tenured professors), whose volume of contributions is less visible than that of schools with a larger number of professors. Yet, for many years, professors at the UC Davis School of Management have been ranked among the top 10 most sensible in the world by The Economist. The effects of capita studies in the Financial Times-50 magazines are among the most productive in the world. As a result, our academics are trained through a highly comprehensive university with strong links to industry and academia. Our academics have merit when it comes to learning. of our well-rounded and well-connected university, as the wisdom generated and imparted through professors in today’s study halls discovers its way to wider dissemination in textbooks or case studies.
The high quality of a small number of undergraduate studies in a small and intimate curriculum, the progression of conscientiously designed substantial courses, fosters cross-systems collaboration (e. g. , joint educational activities between MSBA and MBA scholars), provides scholars with theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. Knowledge through experiential learning and offers personalized studies and independent exam courses that meet student demand. Our curriculum and university are top-notch, but they don’t stand out as much due to the short duration of the program.
That said, we have developed close partnerships across campus to leverage UC Davis’ leadership in global studies in many areas. For example, our exclusive commercial dives build on the strengths of the entire university on campus. Students are exposed to a high-quality curriculum. , business relations and assignments in the fields of food and agriculture, biotechnology, sustainable energy and innovation finance. Students seeking this enrichment opportunity occasionally elegantly team up with graduate scholars from the applicable disciplines and solve case study disorders in multidisciplinary teams. This type of experience is made possible by the high-quality school of studies and collaborative environment that allows UC Davis graduate students to take courses with our MBA students and prepare for career opportunities in express industries. We don’t know of any other industry. Interdepartmental systems focused on preparing MBA scholars for the jobs of the future.
The consequences of a high-quality university are numerous. First, the program is constantly updated and advancing to meet the demands of the industry while preserving the educational integrity of the program. Second, the experiential opportunities created in the program (e. g. , projects, consulting projects, case competitions) prepare our graduates to have an effect from day one of their work. Third, the physically powerful program provides placement opportunities in a diversity of industries, with higher average starting salaries.
UC Davis MBA students in Gallagher Hall
P&Q: In 2-3 sentences, tell us what your stackable credentials are. And more broadly, tell us how these credentials give UC Davis an advantage in the graduate business school marketplace?
Unnava: “We will begin offering our MBA program through stackable certificates in April. Our university has designed each certificate to reflect, as it should be, an employee’s career progression on the job. This design technique differs from providing a large number of certificates and permits. Scholars must take all available certificate to earn the credits needed to earn an MBA. In addition, our scholars can take certificate courses online, in-person, or in a hybrid format, making it easy for them to feel part of our network. and other UC Davis MBA scholars.
The program particularly expands our student base, establishes connections with partner companies, generates opportunities such as projects, internships, and internships for our scholars and alumni. This continues to distinguish us as one of the most cutting-edge business schools in the United States. Again, the certificate largely tracks everyone’s career advancement in control careers, which is different from some other stackable certificate models designed with a full-time MBA program as the base model.
PAG
Unnava: “For us, good luck lies in the ability of graduate scholars to engage in meaningful career opportunities that are consistent with their prices and life goals. The new generation of academics is looking for collaboration (which is emphasized in our MBA experience). through our collaborative leadership program), meaningful contributions to companies (we achieve this through our program that integrates sustainable skills, corporate social responsibility, and entrepreneurship) and have an effect on (we tailor individual contributions through participation in alumni networks with similarly priced systems). Our goal is to make the two to three years of experience in our MBA program the most productive years of our students’ lives, as they lay the foundation for good fortune and lifelong achievement.
PAG
Unnava: “We are excited to have received preliminary approval to launch an undergraduate major in business. The target start date is Fall 2025. The major proposal has received endorsement from the UC Davis Academic Senate and is in the final stages of formulating the laws and by-laws. The major is quite unique because it brings together three groups of expertise at UC Davis: the Economics Department, the Agricultural Resource Economics Department, and the Graduate School of Management. This powerful academic collaboration led to a curriculum that is rigorous and grounded in economics. Students will be required to take six courses in economics, and multiple electives in economics are part of their concentration. Initially, the major will be limited in size—250 students per year—with 175 students admitted as first-year undergraduates and 75 slots made available to transfers from community colleges and other UC Davis departments. This relatively small size of the major (leading to high selectivity), coupled with a focus on key strengths of UC Davis—in economics and business—is expected to result in an academic experience that is highly desirable to the industry.”
Next Page: University of Virginia, Darden School
The newly opened Forum Hotel in Darden
They won’t say it. Most people feel tired, disrespected, and overwhelmed. Maybe a little afraid too. To win them over, you make the feel welcome, valued, special – pampered even. You treat them to the good life and give them a moment’s peace.
You could say the Forum Hotel is an extension of the Darden School spirit: warm, cosmopolitan, energizing, . Architecturally, it reflects the Jeffersonian aesthetic common to the University of Virginia: Classic white columns, red clay brick, arched windows, and a gigantic lawn. Inside, you’ll find spacious walkways and cozy rooms, a quiet place to gather with loved ones or unwind after a productive day. It feels cultured and relaxed – a place you want to stick around and savor.
Obviously, Darden has the right hospitality after opening the Forum Hotel last year. Think five stories and 195,000 square feet, 198 rooms and nine suites that can accommodate six hundred guests. In combination with the revamped C. Ray Smith Alumni Hall. 48,000 square feet itself: Darden has invested $130 million in the company. And boy, does that sound like money well spent! That’s because amenities are luxury.
Picture a ballroom, a wine cellar, a fitness center, and a library. It also comes with a 6-acre arboretum with 5,500 trees, not to mention a botanical garden and walking path. Want to unwind? Visit The Good Sport for craft beers from all over Charlottesville. Fine dining? Try the Birch & Bloom for everything from a Seafood Tower to a Filet Mignon. If you get there between 5-6 p.m., you can enjoy complimentary Belgian beer too.
On the contrary, the Hotel Forum sends a message. On the one hand, it indicates that Darden’s doors are open to the Charlottesville community. Overlooking the Darden grounds, the location is an herb gathering spot for the Darden community. More than that, the hotel embodies how Darden focuses on other people and experiences.
“In this building, you’re going to see a lot of prospects,” says Yael Grushka-Cockayne, senior associate dean for professional degree programs, in a 2023 interview. “We used to place potential applicants in random positions around town or at the Darden Inn. You get to know others when you share bread with them and this booth invites that kind of interaction and is a world-class experience with small-town hospitality.
Yes, it was good to be Darden again in 2023. Their MBA graduates enjoyed record starting pay last year. The school also topped its $400 million goal two years early in its Powered By Purpose campaign. You can thank David and Kathleen LaCross for some of that. After all, they gave an estimated $56 million dollars to Darden in the second part of their $100 million dollar gift. According to the school, past LaCross gifts have supported the launch of Darden Artificial Intelligence Initiative, with the latest money being funneled towards the Institute for Business in Society, the Olsson Center for Applied Ethics, and the Collaboratory for Applied Data Science in Business.
“I realized long before I started that I owed a huge debt to Darden for his effective use of the case method, an incredibly special university that knew how to get the most out of a class and my classmates,” David LaCross said in 2022. “From the beginning, I hoped to be able to give something back one day. “
Darden UVA Cherry Blossoms
You’ll find many Darden MBAs following in his footsteps and sharing the same sentiment. This is especially true for existing scholars and recent alumni who were interviewed through The Princeton Review last year. Darden School has been ranked in the top 10 in more schools than any other MBA program. This included second place in 3 categories: classroom experience, campus environment, and career prospects. Darden also ranked fourth among the most productive teachers and in the top 10 for family friendliness, least competitive classmates, and resources for women. True to Darden’s reputation for excellent academics, the school’s systems have been ranked among the top ten in the world in four disciplines: control (third), consulting (fourth), finance (seventh), and marketing (eighth).
The Princeton Review wasn’t the only ranking where Darden stood out. In December’s Poets&Quants ranking, Darden climbed six spots to 8th. With Bloomberg Businessweek, the school tied with Dartmouth Tuck for 3rd, its highest ranking ever, thanks to high scores in the Compensation and Learning categories. Darden even scored a #1 ranking – in its Carbon Footprint from The Financial Times. Thirty years ago, Darden was among the first MBA programs to teach sustainability. Practicing what it preached, Darden also became one of programs to achieve carbon neutrality in 2019. How did they do it? Mike Lenox, the school’s senior associate dean and chief strategy officer said it happened through good business. Darden partnered with Dominion Energy to help build a solar plant and then purchased power through it. Now, Lenox adds, Darden is taking their commitment to practicing sustainability a step further.
“We can do more, that’s why we’ve created a new set of goals for 2030 around ‘how we live’ (operations) and ‘how we learn’ (student engagement),” he explained in an interview with P
Despite its prowess in sustainability, Darden will long be known as a general control program, perhaps the most productive graduate business school in the world for its university excellence and mastery of case studies. The school estimates that scholars will complete 500 or more instances in their two years of the program. Through these stories, they are informed to temporarily evaluate situations, identify what is applicable and important, pictures in a context of uncertainty and contradictions, and expand positions and responses that they must protect in class. Best of all, the case approach allows Darden MBAs to be informed through peer reports, adds first-year Jeremy Halversen.
“While the other 70 people in my class have only four years of professional experience, we’re talking about three hundred years of interactions with managers and leaders. . . Although none of us in the room are the best managers, we have all witnessed and been a part of almost the best moments of leadership. Darden’s approach to the case is very effective in providing a framework for sharing this experience in a constructive and formal way. It’s amazing to have a helicopter pilot who spent nearly a decade in the U. S. military. The U. S. company is next to the founder of a tech company in India. They get to elegance, start arguing a case, and very quickly, without even trying. They don’t know what wonderful leadership looks like.
What makes the Darden case method so effective is the faculty – sometimes described as “high touch, high tone, high octane”. You won’t students taking issue with that description. “Darden’s professors are a different breed,” writes first-year Jade Kimpson. “They really live and breathe what they do. They want us to learn and succeed. I signed up to learn from the passionate ones, and Darden delivered. Learning from people who love what they do? That’s what it’s all about.”
Yes, the Darden difference is not limited to teachers and cases. There’s the Darden Cup, where all five sections compete in everything from basketball to trivia to bragging skill competitions. There is the culture of First Coffee, which takes a stand in each and every case. every morning at 9:30 a. m. , where scholars, faculty, and visitors combine to socialize and network. Of course, there’s one of the school’s signature experiences, Darden Worldwide Courses, where academics can move abroad to examine anything from luxury Italian students. to German AI. However, Darden will remain a program worth watching, as they exceed the expectations of their MBAs – a wonderful experience.
“Dean Scott Beardsley says students who come to Darden can expect a wonderful education, a wonderful career, a wonderful network, and a wonderful way of life at the school,” says Dawna Clarke, the school’s principal vice dean, in a 2023 Q&A session. Consultation with P
Next Page: SDA Bocconi
SDA Bocconi’s new campus in Milan
Some critics charge that rankings are too prohibitive. The deck is stacked and the tiers are set. Schools really can’t move up. When they do, they eventually slide right back down. It doesn’t matter what schools do, they add. Their fate is ultimately sealed.
Try telling that to SDA Bocconi School of Management. In 2008, the school ranked 48th in the world according to The Financial Times. Respectable – but hardly compelling. Five years later, it climbed to 39th – and 10 spots higher to 29th in 2018. At that rate, you might expect it to crack the Top 20 this year. Instead, it ranked 6th in 2023 – better than Chicago Booth, Northwestern Kellogg, MIT Sloan. Better still, it finished above London Business School and HEC Paris.
In short: sixth position is a big jump from 12th and 13th positions in the last two FT rankings.
An aberration? A product of a skewed methodology? You might have thought that…until the Bloomberg Businessweek ranking backed up everything the FT showed – and more. SDA Bocconi finished #1 in Europe – even ahead of INSEAD and IESE, which ranked ahead of it in The Financial Times. Equally impressive, the school moved up four spots over the previous year.
What’s behind SDA Bocconi’s success? Let’s start with The Financial Times. Here, the school notched the second-highest score for its carbon footprint, which is based on a school’s net zero target for carbon emissions using the school’s audit reports over the previous three years. SDA Bocconi’s alumni pay, within three years of graduation, came in at $192,815 – second only INSEAD among European MBA programs. The school also ranked among the best in Value For Money (6th), International Course Experience (9th), Industry Sector Diversity (11th). At the same time, SDA Bocconi made noticeable improvement in The FT’s Academic Research and Career Progress categories.
Add to that the fact that the program had the alumni satisfaction rate (9. 89 out of 10) in 2022, not to mention a Top 10 career services center.
Bloomberg Businessweek offers more clues as to what sets SDA Bocconi apart. Like the Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek data showed that SDA Bocconi graduates earn the second-highest salary among European systems after graduation. The school also scored highest in Europe in networking, which measures the degree of accessibility and alumni to MBA students. In addition, the school ranked fifth and tenth respectively in the dimensions of learning and entrepreneurship. Notably, SDA Bocconi has gained seven internship positions, while remaining in second place in revenue.
MBA scholars at SDA Bocconi in Milan, Italy. Photo courtesy
Taken together, those ratings are a testament to SDA Bocconi’s growing influence. Another example is the reopening of its new Milan campus, which closed due to COVID-19 after being open for only a few months. With an area of 50,000 square meters and five buildings. — the campus features the usual: stunning views, spacious classrooms, video cameras and microphones, labs and exam areas, colorful artwork, and green spaces. Even a gym and a restaurant.
What’s different? How about an Olympic-sized swimming pool?
“This was a huge investment,” says Giuseppe Soda, the school’s former dean and current professor of organizational design. “But we’re happy with our students’ reactions.”
Clearly, SDA Bocconi’s students are happy with their experience. What has propelled SDA Bocconi to rank among the business school elites? In January, P&Q reached out to Stefano Pogutz, the full-time MBA academic director at the SDA Bocconi School of Management. Here are his thoughts on what has made the program stand out.
PAG
Pogutz: “The rapidly changing economic landscape, transformations in the hard work market, and the demands of new generations of MBA participants require constant innovations and adaptations of the MBA program curriculum. At SDA Bocconi, we, the long-term leaders, want to integrate fundamental business control and finance capabilities with a coherent worldview that reflects the complexity and uncertainty we are experiencing, as well as the demanding sustainability situations we face (e. g. , the climate crisis, inequality, erectile dysfunction,
Over the past year, we’ve incorporated new courses, workshops, and boot camps focused on those topics to provide a physically powerful systems thinking framework that incorporates classic vertical skills. For example, all academics embark on the MBA adventure with a full week of interactive and engaging sessions on long-term scenarios (new technologies and artificial intelligence, energy and climate, geopolitics, demography). This course, co-taught by a team of economics and strategy professors, exposes participants to keynote speeches and orchestrated classroom discussions. The goal is to create a lasting impact on our students, presenting critical issues that will benefit them in their future careers.
Another major change has been an increased emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship. We hope that in the coming years more MBAs will be interested in launching new companies or joining new companies. To solve the major disruptions of sustainability and build a more equitable society, innovation, technologies and new business concepts are essential. We believe that all academics will need to acquire those skills in order to become replacement agents and make a genuine positive impact.
A final update to the program is a reorganization of the concentrations to develop the modularity and flexibility of the program. This includes the addition of new elective courses and the integration of new learning reports, such as study trips, business projects, and a collaborative adventure. with our Bocconi 4 Innovation accelerator, which is based on mentoring and internship systems.
Stefano Pogutz
PAG
Pogutz: “Our new motto, ‘Change Together, Lead with Impact’, encapsulates the ethos of our MBA program—its spirit and beliefs. These fundamental concepts set our program apart. Many MBAs claim to offer a transformative experience centered around new technical and behavioral skills, competencies, networking, and access to the job market. At SDA Bocconi, we aspire to change together.
We build on a key feature of our program: the size and diversity of our class. Our full-time MBA prioritizes a small and intimate learning environment. The 2024 class comprises 112 students from 38 different nationalities, providing participants with a genuine experience of cultural diversity and fostering high levels of interaction every day. To enhance inclusivity, we employ various tools such as group assignments and project rotations throughout the MBA journey.
Our services, along with the Career Development Center, offer specific approaches to assist in each student’s unique journey. The small, sleek sizes also make it easy to interact normally with professors, program administrators, deans, and the principal. Students can seamlessly have lunch with the dean or meet with their favorite professors to delve deeper into the course content while sipping coffee in the cafeteria. “Together” also means keeping an open channel for consistent conversations, one-on-one meetings, and feedback sessions to frequently improve the program.
The current detail of our motto, “Leading with Impact,” aligns with our overall purpose, which is firmly rooted in our business school’s DNA. Since its inception, our school has been committed to participatory capitalism and price generation. This determination is reflected in our MBA program, where we aim to develop responsible, purposeful leaders who have a positive impact on society.
PAG
Pogutz: “In the last six years, we have introduced some relevant changes in the way we connect our students with the Alumni network. This has happened, under the coordination of the Associate Dean for our Master Programs, Professor Enzo Baglieri, in order to create higher integration and more chances for all our students.
First, to make it less difficult for campus scholars to connect with our alumni network, we are experimenting with so-called “forever” program platforms. We are with the Executive MBAs and now we are joining the full-time MBA cohorts. The platforms are a combination of events and seminars, presented online and in person, for both academics and campus alumni. The former have the possibility of interacting with the network, the latter obtain advantages from the continuous updating of their skills and are motivated to continue contributing to the school’s networking activities.
Secondly, we have brought in the Alumni Engagement Manager, a committed profile whose objective is to preserve, I would say, the encounter between the alumni and the school, and to create networking opportunities.
Thirdly, we have created a bridge between the career progression activities committed to academics on campus and what is known as the Executive Career Curriculum, which is a series of events, seminars, ad hoc training sessions and recommendations that we offer to all of our MBAs. alumni, with specialization in the first 3-5 years after graduation.
Finally, we must emphasize that many of the paintings we have done so far in netpaintingsing aim to make it clear to academics what netpaintingsing means. Many other people are simply waiting to attend an event or meet an inspirational leader and, like if they are graduating from the SDA Bocconi School of Management, then they will have the task of a lifetime. Netpaintingsing is an attitude and a skill; We will all have to be willing to give first, without expecting to receive. It’s based on dedicating time and caring for others. This is what we dedicate time to with our students, through the training service, one-off sessions and meetings with experts.
PAG
Pogutz: “I’m not sure if it’s undervalued, but one aspect that every student, including exchange students, consistently mentions whenever we inquire about what has been uniquely significant in the entire MBA journey is the “class experience”. As previously noted, our small and intimate learning environment is genuinely distinctive, according to everyone. Our responsibility is to facilitate the formation of friendships among them, assisting them in interacting, embodying their values, and positively and carefully challenging themselves. The outcome is that, after a few weeks, all students get to know each other, forming a cohesive and solid community. This collaborative spirit cannot exist without the establishment of trust, and we believe that this is one of the significant opportunities our MBA provides to our students. Trust, now more than ever, is crucial in preparing leaders capable of listening and managing in a complex, conflict-ridden world.”
PAG
Pogutz: “Ten years ago, SDA Bocconi was the leading Italian school of management, with the moderate ambition of becoming an international player. The first change was in our own mindset. Over these ten years, our focus has been on transforming this institution in a real global point of reference for the best management education. The faculty has become more-and-more international and diverse; professionals are hired from other industries and countries, and technologies have advanced. Finally, the new campus in Milan in 2020 and the one in Rome in 2022 are tangible demonstrations of the cultural and strategic change we put in place.
The second factor marking this improvement is the attention we pay to both the need to create the value, to our students and to any stakeholder of ours, and to preserve the values, that is our Dean Stefano Caselli’s mantra. We do feel the responsibility of educating a future generation of business leaders who can manage the business with a strong ethical approach.
I guess that’s how our academics feel when they come to Milan and our campus. They understand this cultural specificity of our MBA program and let those values permeate their long-term decision-making, whether on a professional or personal level. It will pay off!”
Next Page: Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School Manhattanville Campus
The World Cup. The Super Bowl. The Olympic Games.
The Pulitzer. The Nobel Prize. The Golden Globes.
Whether it’s a head-to-head festival or a vote, everyone recognizes excellence, execution, and innovation. In education, ratings update lavish shows. When it comes to business schools, some say the Financial Times is the rating to follow. After all, it’s the only primary qualification that compares MBA systems globally using the same criteria.
Most deans will claim that rankings really don’t matter. They’re biased and dated, measuring the wrong dimensions in the wrong amounts. Of course, their marketing materials and sales pitches say otherwise. Rankings may not rack up bull’s eyes, but they grab attention from educators, students, alumni, and employers. They make applicants think and administrators act.
Columbia Business School certainly made headlines in 2023, notching the top spot in The Financial Times’ Global MBA Ranking. Let’s just say it has been a long time coming. CBS was the runner-up in the 1999, 2007, and 2022 full-time rankings. And the school has made the FT’s Top 5 in 17 out of the 25 years that the FT has ranked business schools. One reason: High pay. Looking over graduate pay within three years of graduation, Columbia MBAs earned $226,359, behind only the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School. The school also finished 2nd for the volume and quality of faculty research. CBS Graduates also performed well in job placement and pre-MBA pay increases. At the same time, alumni satisfaction hit 9.51 on a 10-point scale,
“These factors suggest that graduates are enjoying high-level returns on investment in an increasingly unpredictable market,” says Michael Malone, the former associate dean of admissions at CBS. “Columbia has added to its traditional strengths in consulting and financial services by building stronger employment relationships in areas including e-commerce, fintech, and real estate. By diversifying career opportunities, Columbia can provide its graduates with what every MBA student wants most: choices.”
Options. Opportunities. Investments. This is the true charm of Columbia Business School. While CBS has reached the top of the mountain, the school is working to make the move permanent. It starts with the school’s Digital Future Initiative, which it introduced in 2022. Think of it as a way to help students keep up with the fast-moving virtual economy. To do this, CBS has developed four laboratories and studio systems that connect MBA students with leading professionals and the CBS university to take advantage of those advances. The four labs cover virtual financial markets, algorithmic decision making, human-centered technology, and media and entertainment technology. In the Digital Financial Markets Lab, for example, academics will develop entire projects involving blockchains, decentralized market microstructures, and decentralized organizational and governance mechanisms, says Clare Norton, senior associate dean for monetary management. school registrations. In contrast, Norton notes that the human-centered lab will offer hands-on experience in spaces ranging from composition to reimagined workplaces to automating the most productive practices.
“These labs work in synergy with a diverse and comprehensive team of study scientists, industry fellows, and study students,” Norton added in a 2023 interview. “In particular, the labs take advantage of Columbia Business School’s culture of interdisciplinary collaboration, leveraging Columbia University’s group. of wisdom spanning engineering, law, policy, and medicine. This multifaceted technique amplifies the perspectives of laboratories and fosters the advancement of ambitious projects, harmoniously uniting academia, industry and society in a tapestry of progress.
Columbia Business School Ranks First in Financial Times MBA Rankings 2023
CBS has been equally ambitious in other aspects of its curriculum. Norton notes that a decade ago, the school began to expand its programming in areas like machine learning and coding. What’s more, faculty has devoted intensive focus on cutting-edge areas like integrating health care and machine learning and labor force automation. At the same time, the school has been busy adding new courses that address the future of business and work in various fields. These range from Real Estate Analytics to Legal Matters in Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets.
“Our curriculum now includes courses including generation fundamentals, deployed AI, virtual product management, blockchain, cryptography, and weather generation, among others,” Norton noted in a 2022 interview with P.
This does not take into account climate and sustainability, spaces in which CBS seeks to become the undisputed global leader. Long known for being one of the most no-nonsense MBA systems in finance (and a skills incubator on Wall Street), CBS has now incorporated climate and sustainability. in its MBA systems, Norton says, with a focus on “environmental and social responsibility. ” This sets the agenda for several university partnerships, including the Columbia Climate School. Not surprisingly, Norton notes, educational studies are looking at spaces like carbon relief commitments, behavioral incentives, and white growth. In addition to this, the school has recently implemented courses such as climate finance, climate threat measurement and management, and climate replacement and energy transition.
Not only have those efforts allowed CBS to do well, but they have also attracted news experts like Isabella Todaro in her first year. ” It was vital to me that the business school devote resources to devising systems specially tailored to my interests and solving such a global problem,” he told P.
How serious is CBS about sustainable practices? They guided the structure of its Manhattanville campus. Opened two years ago, the structure obtained LEED Gold certification from the U. S. Green Building Council, but really that’s just an anecdote. In fact, Columbia Business School’s Manhattanville campus (Henry R. Kravis Hall and David Geffen Hall) reflects the school’s prestige. Most importantly, it can accommodate the resources of an urban Ivy League institution that is among the most productive in the world. Imagine two glassy, light-filled skyscrapers spanning 492,000 feet, more than double the area of its predecessor, Uris Hall. Imagine spacious, technology-equipped classrooms, not to mention two dozen interview rooms that pamper employers (and stay on campus a little longer). Yes, it might have cost $600 million, but it offers a state-of-the-art learning experience designed to bring together all stakeholders (students, teachers, employers, experts) with services that get the most out of themselves. Perhaps the most underrated feature of the new campus, Norton says, is its stair system, called “The Grid. “
“[It acts] as the connective tissue of the school, connecting all levels of each building, uniting a plethora of intimate lounges, classrooms, exam rooms, and informal breakout areas. In addition, the area includes an innovation lab, an area committed to the progression of new businesses designed and directed through members of the Colombian community, a student variety room, a student playroom, a gymnasium, a dining hall, and a cafeteria. Connecting the buildings is an underground link, which houses a variety of Equipment and shared service equipment, allowing our new area to effectively serve as a single unit on our new campus.
Alas, Columbia Business School boasts – maybe – the biggest advantage of any business school: Location. In New York City, as students say, you’re a cab ride away from every industry, company, function, or area of expertise. The region is home to 47 Fortune 500 companies, along with the presence of large outposts for big names ranging from Google to McKinsey. Not only is it a financial, artistic, and media center, but it nurtures a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem. Think $22 billion dollars in early-stage investment (and 98 unicorns) from 2020-2022. And Columbia Business School MBA competes in the thick of it all. Case in point: Among the 15 MBA startups that drew the most investment from 2018-2022, four were founded by CBS MBA graduates – more than any other business school.
For MBAs, this translates into access and opportunity. Clare Norton highlights internship opportunities, which academics can take up at any time of the year. Additionally, they can receive insights from some of New York City’s most thoughtful thinkers and business leaders through teaching assistants. and resident executives. More than anything, Columbia Business School positions MBAs for long-term success, whether through its deeply connected university and alumni, its expansive and cutting-edge programming, or the opportunities that come only from living in the big city. Apple.
“To quote a quote from a CBS alumnus and former vice president of the Entrepreneurship Club,” says freshman Uvika Chaturved, “a CBS MBA will already put you in the most sensible business capital of the world. “
Next page: Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business
Carey MBA Students
Death and taxes.
These are the only certainties in life. While MBAs have been rushing into finance for generations, one business school has jumped into the “health business”: the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.
Why not? After all, Johns Hopkins is “synonymous with fitness,” says Dean Alexander Triantis. Home to 29 Nobel Prize winners, Johns Hopkins is considered the most sensible public medical, nursing, and fitness school in the U. S. U. S. News
“The other 80 have learned the opportunities,” says Dean Triantis in an interview with P
In fact, Carey’s MBAs have spotted the difference. Vanessa Battista, a pediatric nurse with a double MBA and Doctor of Nursing Practice, temporarily saw how applicable the program would be to her work. The program’s focus on results, he says, has proven invaluable in responsibilities such as writing memos and organizing events.
“We did it all the time, learning practical things that helped you do your homework even better,” Battista told P.
More than communicating, Battista adds, Carey’s MBA taught him to think beyond the functional limitations ingrained over the years in his profession. “There were actually a lot of other people working in the physical care sector, but there were also other business people, engineers, lawyers. and teachers. It was very comforting to think about the problems from other angles. It was rewarding.
Shrey Kapoor, a 2023 MBA graduate who will earn his medical doctorate this spring, came to Carey as an entrepreneur who founded MetSetGo, an AI-powered telemedicine platform. The program, Kapoor says, trained him in the key nuances of building a launchpad, classes that helped him secure a $250,000 investment. Plus, Carey’s team-oriented style honed her comfortable skills, which she’ll want to handle in her 15-member team. Kapoor’s classmate, Mehaque Kohli, praised the program’s experiential learning opportunities and highlighted the task of the innovation field in which her team worked with executives and consumers at a Nashville telefitness company looking to expand its services. Another graduate, Jon Ilani, enjoyed how he taught through researchers and practitioners deeply familiar with the unique regulations that govern the funding and marketing of fitness services. Even more, he appreciated how the MBA program went above and beyond to help him advance his career while he was an applicant and student.
“Even though every school was talking about their ability to help me, Carey Business School went the extra mile to make this happen. I was set up to interview for a Carey alumnus for an internship at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, preparing me for a pre-MBA internship and leveraging their strong alumni network. This experience gave me valuable real-world experience, which was incredibly helpful when I applied for internships for the following summer.
Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. School Photo
Carey’s experiential and multidisciplinary nature is one of the benefits she enjoys. However, the real differentiator is flexibility. Triantis is that the two-year, full-time MBA program now includes a Health, Technology and Innovation section, to mention a 12-week paid internship. The Flex MBA can be completed online or come with a combination of on-campus residencies and weekend classes. At the same time, Carey manages an impressive portfolio of systems and certificates.
“In our flexible MBA, we have several specializations, but one of them is healthcare management, innovation, and technology,” Triantis tells P.
Another merit Carey enjoys? The school is relatively young. This translates into an openness undermined by silos or entrenched practices. “As schools grew, they tended in the future to expand the departments of finance and accounting, etc. ,” admits Dean Triantis. research. The modern business school focuses on actually solving complex disorders that require the integration of functional domains. Our professors do this and our academics are informed that this is how they are going to solve the disorders.
Of course, there’s the much-vaunted Johns Hopkins ecosystem. How does it hold up? Shrey Kapoor puts it this way: “As one instructor told me, ‘We don’t read books. We wrote them down. ‘ Here are resources found nowhere else in the world.
“There’s no better position to provide health care than Hopkins,” Kohli said. “The entire ecosystem, from the alumni network to the elegantly and even extracurricular discussed cases, is immersed in health. “
Last year, Carey School reached a milestone: it is one of only ten business schools in the U. S. to reach the top ten in the world. U. S. citizens to earn a STEM designation. As a result, Carey graduates can extend their stay in the U. S. to the U. S. What else makes Carey a business school to watch in 2024?This month, P
Dean Alexander Triantis (Center)
P&Q: What have been the most important new developments in your MBA program over the past year? What type of impact will it have on current and future MBAs?
Triantis: “By offering the Hopkins Difference online, Carey has expanded its flexible part-time MBA to allow scholars more opportunities to customize and tailor their program to meet their goals and needs. Students can choose from 8 high-demand specializations, adding business analytics; Healthcare management, innovation and technology, and leadership in the public sector and personnel. The Flexible Part-Time MBA is Carey’s largest educational program, attracting scholars from across the United States and around the world with a combination of online courses and exclusive in-person experiences.
As a growing and agile b-school, Carey plans to add more specialization opportunities including areas such as artificial intelligence, and even more experiential learning opportunities for online-learning students.
Of course, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School also offers a full-time MBA and eleven carefully designed dual-degree MBA programs that give students more opportunities to specialize.”
P
Triantis: “Johns Hopkins Carey Business School is part of America’s premier world-renowned study university in fitnesscare, engineering and other fields. Building on this pedigree, Carey Business School leads the fitnesscare sector through an unprecedented interdisciplinary collaboration with medical and nursing schools. , the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Whiting School of Engineering. Even outside of the fitness sector, Carey offers a highly personalized student experience that deliberately incorporates more than a dozen experiential learning opportunities and brings into play the desires of students’ systems. above the decomponent regime without sacrificing rigor. It emphasizes faculty, attracting prestigious experts such as economist Michael Keane, control scientist and virtual fitness expert Ritu Agarwal, and professors Poetas.
P
Triantis: “With scholars from 64 countries, Carey Business School is culturally, ethnically and religiously diverse. In addition, it is one of the few business schools that has gender parity in its MBA programs; Carey’s full-time MBA cohorts have been at least 51% female for four consecutive years. In fact, Carey has gender parity among all students.
Carey is a position for marketers who need to make an impact on the future of business and society through innovation and expertise. Its MBA program offers more than a dozen experiential learning opportunities, from sprint impact to immersive trips abroad. The technique of experiential learning is so impressive that in 2021, the MBA Roundtable revered it with an Innovator Award for Overall Excellence. The year before, Carey had incorporated AI into her MBA program. In 2022, Carey introduced the new Center for Digital and Artificial Health. Intelligence; In 2023, Johns Hopkins University established its multidisciplinary Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, which will boost and deepen Carey students’ exposure to and understanding of AI.
PAG
Triantis: “Johns Hopkins Carey Business School leads the fitness industry. At least 25 percent of its students are engaged in fitness-related studies, and Carey teaches eight graduate degrees focused on this area. Through dual-degree MBAs with the Johns Hopkins Schools of Medicine and Nursing, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Whiting School of Engineering, scholars leverage interdisciplinary collaboration and expertise from the most reputable and prestigious experts. Globally reliable maximum in fields similar to fitness. In addition, Carey scholars can turn concepts into action through access to Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures and Heexcite, the university’s award-winning AACSB Innovations that Inspire medical software startup generator. Both systems aim to translate clinical discoveries into commercialized products and services. For example, Christoph Lengauer, a Carey MBA graduate, helped raise money for a cancer blood test developed by Johns Hopkins researchers. The company acquired for $2. 1 billion in 2020.
PAG
Triantis: “The Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business expands Johns Hopkins University’s pursuit of research, discovery, and education through dynamic learning opportunities, cutting-edge universities, and interdisciplinary collaborations to help expand leaders who capture opportunities to create sustainable business and social value. The world’s most complex and demanding situations require more than one domain of expertise, Carey uses an isolated technique that focuses on spaces of educational interest rather than disciplinary departments. Carey’s college and school administrators continually reevaluate the most productive interests of students and society across companies, tailoring programs, experiential learning opportunities, and external partnerships to meet our needs.
Next page: Yale School of Management
Orientation: New students from Yale SOM Master’s Residential Systems arrived on campus Aug. 14 for a week-long orientation.
Time plays a strange trick on us. What is general today was once considered revolutionary. Take the Yale School of Management as an example. In 2011, Ted Snyder was named dean of a school he said operated as a “family business. ” He possessed an Ivy League pedigree, but lacked an identity that differentiated him from other MBA programs. Fortunately, all he had to do was turn to the larger university of Yale for answers. His vision was for an interdisciplinary, international and mission-oriented MBA program. He would focus on leveraging Yale’s expertise. community, become in fact a global extension and identify the progression of leadership across industries and regions.
That’s now the SOM DNA: a future-centered, globally-focused, socially-conscious MBA program that’s heavily informed by the liberal arts and STEM disciplines. Its mantra says it all: “Educating leaders for business and society.” At Yale SOM, students are learning more than frameworks and formulas. They’re here to use business to tackle the complex and enigmatic issues that keep the best minds awake at night. That means MBAs come to New Haven with passion and purpose, always balancing big picture goals with small constituent needs.
“The Yale School of Management is a position for people who want to make a positive impact on their organization, their community, and the world at large,” says Bruce DelMonico, assistant dean of admissions, in a 2023 interview with P.
This sounds like the blueprint of any fashion MBA program. . . with varying degrees of good luck to achieve it. Ten years ago, social details took a back seat to gains and losses, and the “why” was rarely explored. At Yale SOM, those commitments have become a cornerstone (even a calling) that guides decision-making and has seeped into each and every corner of the curriculum. Just ask graduates like Elizabeth Varughese, who earned her MBA at Yale SOM in 2022.
“Coming to SOM, I learned that we look at all the intersections of social media and business in various mediums and industries, adding sustainability, energy conservation, technology, resource accessibility, and more,” she told P.
Yale SOM Evans Room
And it has turned Yale SOM into a Top 10 staple across the major MBA rankings. This year, Yale SOM climbed three spots to 5th in the 2023-2024 P&Q MBA ranking. Before that, the school placed finished 10th (Financial Times), 8th (U.S. News), 10th (CEOWorld), 8th (LinkedIn) and 4th (Fortune). Yale SOM also notched the top score for its Consulting programming In the Princeton Review’s 2023 survey of MBA students and recent alumni. As usual, business school deans and MBA director rated the school as the top school for Non-Profit programming in the annual US News survey.
Many times, in business or education, innovators are punished. The outside world – from customers to stakeholders – just don’t know how to evaluate their success. That’s one reason why Yale SOM’s consistently highly rankings – regardless of methodology – is so striking. After all, the school is among the handful that isn’t afraid to be different. For example, the first year opens with the integrated core. After a quick brush up on the fundamentals of individual disciplines, the core weaves into a multidisciplinary medley. Here, students study business from the perspective of stakeholders like customers and investors, see how disciplines like marketing and finance work hand-in-hand across various levels of an organization and every constituency it serves. What’s more, the program relies heavily on ‘raw’ case studies. Think a normal case study – only supplemented by resources like videos and source materials. Such elements add context to the issues at hand and expose students to the greater uncertainties and inconsistencies involved.
At Yale SOM, you’ll also hear students use the term “intersectionality.” In many ways, it is an ivory tower term for cross-curricular or multidisciplinary – but it extends beyond cases and courses to Yale SOM’s structure overall. For one, it reflects the school’s robust joint degree program, whose cross-campus partnerships cover connect disciplines like Public Affairs, Architecture, Public Health, Global Affairs, Law, Drama, Medicine, and the Environment. During their second year, MBAs can take as many courses as they want outside the SOM.
“A key draw of Yale SOM’s MBA curriculum was the flexibility to take elective courses across Yale’s various academic programs,” explains Eunjee Koh, a second-year MBA. “This is especially true for someone like me, who is interested in exploring the intersection of sustainability and well-being. The ability to attend classes at Yale School of Environment, Yale School of Public Health, and Yale Center on Climate Change and Health will broaden my understanding of the health impacts of sustainability.”
Last year, Yale SOM worked to expand its options. With a $20 million donation, the school established its Swensen Asset Management Institute. The institute will complete its MBA-Master in Asset Management set, one of SOM’s most popular new offerings in recent years. In the same way, the school has introduced a diversity of new courses according to Vice Dean Anjani Jain, such as the immediate prototyping of technological entrepreneurship, the construction of a metaverse strategy, and the understanding and elimination of biases in organizations. Recently a successful course: Large Language Models: Theory and Application, which will launch this fall, Yale SOM will also launch a new Master’s Degree in Technology Management. At the same time, the school will celebrate the tenth anniversary of its opening. of Evans Hall, a construction as futuristic as the day of its inauguration.
At the end of the day, those additions pretty much satisfy the market’s desires, DelMonico said in a 2022 interview with P
“Another vital facet of this defining project is not only how it encompasses diverse spaces such as education and asset control, but also how it shapes and transforms them. It provides center to a domain such as investment control that might otherwise lean toward the technical and the impersonal, through the emergence of leaders who perceive the effect of their investment decisions and who take on this task thoughtfully and carefully. And it allows educators who are passionate and determined about their work to approach it more rigorously, amplifying the impact they can have in their study rooms and communities.
With a commitment like that, you have to wonder what Yale SOM will cook up next. This creativity, coupled with a track record for raising the bar and setting the pace, makes SOM a program to watch in the coming year.
Next page: Duke University, Fuqua School of Business
Duke Fuqua’s MBA Class of 2025. Photo by Duke
How do you know what kind of paintings you’re making?People will tell you. . . And you probably won’t doubt it if it’s anonymous.
That’s the good looks of The Princeton Review’s annual survey of academics and recent MBA graduates. You may not get educational results, but see precisely which MBA systems are consistently in the Top 10. When it comes to satisfaction, few schools rival Duke University’s Fuqua. School.
Mind you, Fuqua didn’t take first place in any category. Aside from Darden School, Fuqua scored more in the Top 10 than any other business school. The school’s leadership ranked sixth and the campus spirit of friendship ninth. Professional clients ranked sixth, while admissions difficulty ranked ninth. In educational terms, Fuqua’s control and consulting systems also finished in the top 10.
What makes the difference? Fuqua MBAs must be in Durham, Fuqua, and among their peers at the Fox Center. They know exactly what they’ve been getting into for two years. They have already accepted the philosophy. They need to live it and maintain it. By that they mean Fuqua’s team.
Hardly a slogan or marketing gimmick, Team Fuqua is very, very real. It is a way of thinking and acting, an aspiration and an identity, a commitment to their classmates that they will show up and bring out the best in each other every…single…day. Technically, there is no real definition of Team Fuqua, says Audrey Dotson, a second-year MBA. It means different things to different people. Instead, it is something that students witness – and they know it when they see it.
“Team Fuqua is the concept that fuquans, whether students or alumni, are all on the same team and that when one of us succeeds, we all succeed,” adds Dotson. “The sense of camaraderie and ambition, rather than competitiveness, is what makes this network so special and I am proud to be a component of it. »
The coupled precepts are the closest thing to the Fuqua team’s interpretation, and the reason academics are so positive about the program. Call it the program’s DNA: a set of values that hold classmates accountable to each other. They come with authentic commitment, caring ambition and collective diversity, impactful stewardship, unwavering community and uncompromising integrity. Impactful stewardship, for example, is a call to use one’s talents for the common intelligence of communities large and small. This principle embodies what Gabrielle House strives to do.
“Personally, I feel a duty to use the opportunities, experiences, and resources I have to encourage and love the people around me,” says the Fuqua freshman. “Whether it’s volunteering and mentoring other young people in my network or being a smart aunt to my five nephews and nieces, caring about others fills my glass. »
Daytime MBA Finance Club meeting in Geneen Auditorium at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in Durham, North Carolina, Wednesday, October 12, 2022 (Justin Cook for Audubon)
How does Team Fuqua find MBAs like Dotson and House? In true business school fashion, they rely on a formula. Dean Bill Boulding refers to it as “triple-threat leadership” – or a combination of IQ, EQ, and DQ.
“A lot of other people are familiar with IQ, or IQ, and IQ, emotional intelligence,” says Russ Morgan, senior associate dean for full-time programs, in a 2023 interview with P.
In fact, the school has redoubled its efforts in terms of diversity. International scholars, from 51 countries, accounted for 47% of the MBA’s fall graduating class. Women made up 45% of the class, while underrepresented minority academics held 27% of the seats in the class. That’s not counting the 18% who fall into the category of first-generation students. Even though Fuqua’s team is united through unifying principles, differences produce a dynamic in which broader perspectives can break down the subtleties of complex upheavals and ultimately lead to more holistic solutions. What’s more, the differences simulate the situation that global MBAs will re-enter, where a common purpose connects other people much more than shared paths.
“A winning business strategy,” says Dean Boulding, “[is] the ability to build and lead varied groups where everyone feels included and empowered to be themselves, leads to superior functionality, and creates greater wealth for a company and, ultimately, for society. “”. »
That impulse to build bridges extends into Fuqua’s recent innovations in programming. Among the first schools to study CEO activism, the school eventually channeled its passion for business and politics to The Dialogue Project, which seeks to reduce social polarization and division. The faculty’s commitment to fighting climate change ultimately led to the school’s acclaimed Center for Energy, Development, and Global Environment (EDGE). A partnership with legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski produced the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics (COLE) – further reinforcing the school’s reputation as a ‘Leadership Lab.’ To further expose students to the most urgent and relevant business topics, Fuqua has further innovated by recently rolling out elective ‘short courses’.
“Short courses allow our students to delve deeper into a topic in a matter of weeks, compared to a full semester,” Morgan notes. “The shorter format also allows our university to temporarily expand coursework around the maximum applicable issues facing businesses today. For example, we will be offering a short course on sustainable operations. I think we’ll see more short courses this educational year. This will allow our students to tailor their reports even more to their interests, adding to an already wide diversity of elective courses. we will be offering.
Unfortunately, the groups are temporary, a never-ending struggle to focus on the project and live the principles that produced its success. This year, the school is expected to upgrade Dean Boulding, who has led the program since 2011. With a unique culture, a famous university, and subtle facilities, the new dean will be ideally placed. As any business professor will tell you, it’s less difficult to build than it is to maintain. Who will Fuqua decide to upgrade to Boulding and how will he instill the spirit of Team Fuqua?This holiday will certainly be worth a case study and anything to consider in the coming years.
Next Page: Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business
“Partio,” or party on the patio, is a venerated Rice Business tradition. Whether it’s an international partio to celebrate the different cultures in our community or a family partio where you can introduce your littles and loved ones to your Rice Business family, partios are our favorite way to unwind and get to know each other better. Photo Cred: Jones Graduate School of Business
Success. . . It’s a deal worth having!
That’s what Dean Peter Rodriguez is facing right now. News spreads from Rice University’s Jones Graduate School. This interest forced the school to make a decision: duplicate our existing style or expand it to accommodate more people.
Chances are, you know the path they’ve chosen.
For one thing, the school has expanded beyond the graduate advertising space. In 2021, Jones introduced an undergraduate business program. Once Rice’s most popular major, the undergraduate business program offers concentrations in finance and control through a list of 20 courses. Let’s say it’s a success. All you want to know is that a remarkable 25% of new freshmen at Rice last fall declared their goal of entering primary school in business. Notably, the school plans to break ground on a 110,000-square-foot expansion to McNair Hall this year, which is already 160,000 square feet!
There is an explanation as to why Jones Graduate School had the confidence to open an undergraduate program. In 2018, it introduced an online MBA program. Now home to more than three hundred students, the MBA@Jones ranks as the sixth most productive online MBA program globally according to the Poets
Call it a happy medium between MBA@Jones and the school’s executive MBA program – which ranked 18th in P&Q’s latest EMBA ranking. Instead of meeting every other weekend like the executive students or spending most of the program in front of computers like online candidates, Rice Hybrids MBAs head to campus just once a month for 2-3 days on a weekend. In addition, Rice Jones will hold three, week-long immersions on campus over the 22-month program. The rest of the program involves live (asynchronous) and recorded (synchronous) courses. In many ways, the Hybrid MBA is a win-win for the school and students alike. Dean Rodriguez noted that it enables Rice Jones to draw working professionals from the Dallas and Austin markets who may only have one weekend free to travel for coursework. At the same time, he adds, the school can better deliver content like Leadership, which he says is better taught fully in-person.
“We can deliver this program on weekends we already have other MBA formats,” he adds, “so we can increase our elective offerings to all other groups.”
Yes, Rice Jones may be in growth mode, but it hasn’t exactly ignored its flagship full-time MBA program. In 2023, the school’s rankings improved seemingly across the board. In the 2023-2024 Poets&Quants Ranking, Jones jumped from 29th to 18th. That doesn’t count improvements with U.S. News (27th to 24th), The Financial Times (28th to 17th among American programs), and Bloomberg Businessweek (29th to 19th). When it came to the current student and recent alumni survey conducted by The Princeton Review in 2023, Jones ranked among the ten-best for Classroom Experience, Career Prospects and Resources for Women – and Top 5 for its Consulting and Finance curriculum. Still, the program’s highest ranking came in an area that is considered to be its signature: Entrepreneurship.
Rice Business’ home is in the center of the beautiful 300-acre tree-lined campus of Rice University. McNair Hall is fit with an expansive patio for studying, lunch breaks or an afternoon Partio. Before or after class, you can make your way to the Rice Loop, a three-mile long trail surrounding the campus, for a shaded stroll or jog. Photo Cred: Jones Graduate School of Business
This fall, Rice Jones rose from third place in the Poets’ annual entrepreneurship rankings.
“We’re not just about the theory of entrepreneurship, but it’s entrepreneurship applied in real-time,” says Kyle Judah, the executive director of the Liu Lab, in a 2022 interview with P&Q. Entrepreneurship is a contact sport. You can’t learn about it just by viewing it from the sidelines. You’ve got to get your hands dirty and learn by doing.”
Jones certainly invests heavily in Entrepreneurship. Startup and Innovation courses account for 29% of the school’s electives. Globally, the school budgets the highest startup funding at $9,217 per student. In addition, Jones ranks first for the ratio of mentor-to-student hours in Entrepreneurship at 22.9 hours. The school is also home to the Lillie Lab, which has produced over 300 startups since 2015. The lab provides student entrepreneurs with everything from coursework to funding to competitions – plus access to potential investors and mentors in the Houston startup ecosystem. University-wide, MBAs can also take advantage of the OwlSpark Accelerator or compete in the annual Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC). Held in the spring, the competition showers winning ventures with over a million in funding. Over the past two decades, competitors have gone on to raise nearly $5.6 billion dollars and create over 5,500 jobs.
“The entrepreneurship culture is a central element of our identity, explains Jessica Krom, director of staff administration, in a 2023 Q&A with P&Q. “A lot of applicants tell us they first learned about Rice because of our No. 1 ranking in entrepreneurship [in The Princeton Review]. As we grow this ecosystem at the school and university level, so does Houston. At Rice, we have the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which has courses for MBAs like New Enterprises and Financing the Startup Venture. But they also have programming and mentoring for all Rice students, alums and even faculty. We also have the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, which hosts the largest and richest graduate business plan competition. The university recently appointed VP of Innovation, which shows how we value the entrepreneurial mindset.”
The location doesn’t hurt either, as Houston is home to 26 Fortune 500 corporations, third only to New York and Chicago. In addition, it is the energy capital of the world, with more than 4,700 energy corporations in every and every sector imaginable: oil, solar energy, wind energy, batteries. . . and many more! This translates into valuable projects for academics and jobs for graduates. In addition, Houston is a wonderful position to live in. Nearly 150 languages are spoken in the metropolitan area. In fact, sophomore Aquib S Yacoob describes Houston as “what the American population will look like in 2050. “Ryan Flick, Yacoob’s classmate, echoes his sentiments.
“You can try more than 15 types of cuisine within a block of Rice Village. There’s an entire underground advertising ecosystem (literally) downtown that stretches for 95 blocks and connects businesses, restaurants, and hotels if you want to stay away from the heat, and the city offers an abundance of green areas and fresh air. As wonderful as those attractions are, it’s in fact Houston’s diverse population that makes the city wonderful!Houston is a welcoming city that combines Southern hospitality with something outside of this. global cultural diversity for a truly exclusive experience on campus and downtown. There’s something for everyone here. “
Right in the middle of a city of the future? That’s just one more explanation for why you should see Rice Jones, a popular exhibit in the midst of an era of growth. I have to wonder what’s hidden next.
Next page: INSEAD
INSEAD MBAs
Sometimes, all it takes is a leap of faith: doing what no one else wants. It’s about stepping up our efforts, getting involved, and taking initiative, showing everyone how to turn disruption into a convention.
MBA programs love sustainability. Who wouldn’t want a chance to do right, make a difference, and preserve the future? You can even earn a few credits in the process. What if sustainability was more than an elective or specialization? What if it was the cornerstone of the program as a whole? Well, that’s exactly what INSEAD plans to pull off. In 2024.
A big bet for a screen ranked 2nd globally by the Financial Times (and 1st globally by Poets)
More than broadening social awareness, replacing is about honing students’ thinking and decision-making skills, says Urs Peyer, dean of curriculum at INSEAD, in a 2023 interview with P
“INSEAD prides itself on its constant innovation. By reinforcing its flagship program’s focus on sustainable development, INSEAD is once again leading the way in sustainable and socially culpable business education. . . The revamped program aims to equip scholars with the wisdom and equipment to make the right choices possible and make their own positive effects during their studies. When proposing and creating a solution for a business, they will take into account the social and environmental effects. When they run a business and appreciate monetary performance, they also have progress in mind.
Of course, INSEAD is simply rethinking research systems for the common good. There are larger forces at play, such as employers’ demands.
“What we’ve heard from businesses is that they will still come to INSEAD to hire general managers. And those general managers, from a vocabulary and a knowledge point of view, need to be able to address sustainability challenges,” explains Peyer in a separate interview with P&Q, “They are very different across different industries and across different geographies. That’s why we decided to give people a holistic point of view as a mandatory part of the curriculum, and then let them specialize through electives for what they’re planning to contribute in the future.”
For those efforts, INSEAD won the 2023 Poets MBA of the Year program
“I think the generations that are getting to the MBA now are already themselves much more sensitive and much more aware of the challenge of having a more sustainable world, and therefore the need to do something around that,” explains Dean Francisco Veloso, who joined the program last spring. “So in that sense, we are responding to the needs of the world, but we’re also responding to the needs of the students themselves that feel, ‘I know this is important, so I want to learn more about this. I want this to be part of my decision toolkit.’”
For its peerless embrace of the social and environmental principles of sustainability, INSEAD is Poets&Quants’ 2023 MBA Program of the Year. Courtesy photos
Although the redesign of sustainability took years, Dean Veloso will be guilty of guiding it through to its beginnings. To make it a success, he says, the school will rely heavily on feedback from those who matter most: the students.
“It is very vital that academics can express themselves explicitly in the sense that we all compare and get feedback from academics at all levels. This does not mean that it is the academics who make a decision about the program, but it is very vital to involve them in the process, especially as the nature of the INSEAD program is that it is very case-based and experience-based. Therefore, it is very important to see what effect this has on the students’ learning process and see what changes might be necessary .
INSEAD’s deep integration of sustainability is not the school’s only innovation in recent years. In particular, the program is a pioneer in the field of virtual reality. Notably, the school’s immersive virtual reality learning initiative exposed more than 4,500 MBAs and executives to simulations such as design overcoming. failures for a new base camp in the area or ideas to help lawyer marketers grow their business. Think about it when case studies come to life, only with interactive VR headsets.
“INSEAD has built the world’s largest virtual truth library for control education, with 20 virtual truth reports on coaching spaces such as leadership, strategy, sustainability, innovation, entrepreneurship, and many more,” says Urs Peyer. “Recently, the school also hosted the first annual assembly of the global XR control network at our Middle East campus in Abu Dhabi with 42 academics from 24 institutions around the world. The purpose is to start building a network of researchers who already use these new technologies in their training or research.
The school has also introduced a Digital@INSEAD initiative, Peyer adds, that offers new electives in emerging generation fields, such as Web 3. 0 and the metaverse, value analysis, and the long-term digital: NTFs. leadership center thanks to its Personal Leadership Development Program (PLDP), considered to be the largest program of its kind through Peyer. Throughout the program, PLDP provides classes, professional coaching, mental assessments, simulations, and organizational exercises for students’ interpersonal skills. , communication skills, and self-awareness.
“The PLDP is confident that leadership is much more than management,” says Katy Montgomery, associate dean of curriculum, in a 2022 interview with P
However, INSEAD will be about diversity. Think 90 nationalities and campuses in France, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and San Francisco. The school offers more than 1,000 full-time MBAs each year, in addition to more than 65,000 graduates in 180 countries. It lives up to its nickname of the “business school of the world. ” One of the reasons for its good fortune lies in its structure: no single nationality brings together the majority of students. In other words, everyone reports what it means to be a minority. Initially, these differences can lead to conflict. Soon everything happens, says Nana Yaw Kyere Opare-Anim, a 22-year-old graduate; She compares it to “two pairs of irons polishing each other. ” In other words, students’ differences cause them to ask questions and consider alternatives. Added to the caliber of classmates, the dynamic makes everyone better.
“In the professional world, it’s very helpful to have other people from other backgrounds at the decision-making table,” writes Juliette Cremel, a 23-year-old graduate. “They will challenge your point of view and bring another point of view. “by sight. “
Cremel’s classmate, Albert Kweku, adds that the 10-month format simulates the realities of working as a global manager overseeing high-level far-flung operations.
“I was amazed to learn how intense and fast the Array program progresses, where you are constantly bombarded with new data and reports at lightning speed. Despite the intensity, it’s also incredibly rewarding and I’ve been reporting a lot in a short amount of time.
While sustainability has made headlines at INSEAD, it’s just one extension of INSEAD’s broader mission: to bring disparate peoples together and solve intractable disruptions with business tools. Given INSEAD’s track record in achieving this purpose, coupled with its ambitious designs on sustainability, this is a school. to observe – and even examine – this year.
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