2019 ranking: NUS, NTU, SMU remain among world's best 50 MBAs

Singaporean business schools – National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Nanyang Business School, and Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Lee Kong Chian School of Business – remained among the top 50 in the 2019 Financial Times’ (FT) global MBA ranking.

The ranking which features the world’s best 100 full-time MBA programmes, placed NUS Business School in the 17th spot this year, moving up one place from 2018. Similarly, SMU's Lee Kong Chian School of Business climbed to 43rd place, from 49th last year. However, NTU’s Nanyang Business School slid eight places to come in at 30th this year.

Another school with a campus located in Singapore that made it to the top 50 was Insead which fell by one place to be ranked 3rd this year.

While the US and UK dominated with the most number of schools included per country - 51 and 11 respectively, FT noted that the high position achieved by Ceibs (5th) highlights the growing strength of top MBA providers in the Asia-Pacific region. The China-based school rose by three places from 2018 to break into the top five this year.

Another Asian school with notable impact is Indian Institute of Management Calcutta which shot up by 29 places - from 78th to 49th - making it the school with the biggest leap in 2019.

In total, 13 Asian schools (or schools with campuses in Asia) made it to the top 50.

Asian schools in the top 50 this year are:

Insead 2019 ranking: 3rd 2018 ranking: 2nd Country: France / Singapore Weighted salary: US$179,661 Salary increase after graduating: 104%

Ceibs 2019 ranking: 5th 2018 ranking: 8th Country: China Weighted salary: US$174,115 Salary increase after graduating: 183%

National University of Singapore Business School 2019 ranking: 17th 2018 ranking: 18th Country: Singapore Weighted salary: US$153,216 Salary increase after graduating: 131%

HKUST Business School 2019 ranking: 18th 2018 ranking: 14th Country: China (Hong Kong) Weighted salary: US$156,202 Salary increase after graduating: 108%

Indian School of Business 2019 ranking: 24th 2018 ranking: 28th Country: India Weighted salary: US$156,122 Salary increase after graduating: 187%

Nanyang Business School, NTU Singapore 2019 ranking: 30th 2018 ranking: 22nd Country: Singapore Weighted salary: US$134,036 Salary increase after graduating: 126%

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore 2019 ranking: 33th 2018 ranking: 35th Country: India Weighted salary: US$178,774 Salary increase after graduating: 124%

Fudan University School of Management 2019 ranking: 34th 2018 ranking: 42nd Country: China Weighted salary: US$110,062 Salary increase after graduating: 195%

University of Hong Kong 2019 ranking: 41st 2018 ranking: 33rd Country: China (Hong Kong) Weighted salary: US$131,386 Salary increase after graduating: 116%

Sungkyunkwan University GSB 2019 ranking: 42nd 2018 ranking: 51st Country: South Korea Weighted salary: US$131,166 Salary increase after graduating: 100%

Singapore Management University: Lee Kong Chian School of Business  2019 ranking: 43rd 2018 ranking: 49th Country: Singapore Weighted salary: US$118,415 Salary increase after graduating: 133%

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad 2019 ranking: 47th 2018 ranking: 31st Country: India Weighted salary: US$186,170 Salary increase after graduating: 100%

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta 2019 ranking: 49th 2018 ranking: 78th Country: India Weighted salary: US$158,138 Salary increase after graduating: 139%

The 2019 ranking is based on 20 different criteria with alumni responses informing eight criteria that together contribute 61% of its weight. Eleven criteria are calculated from school data, accounting for 29% of the ranking. The remaining criterion, the research rank, counts for 10%. Alumni-informed criteria are based on data collected over three years.

For schools to enter the ranking calculations, the FT requires that a minimum of 20% of alumni reply to the survey, with at least 20 fully completed responses.

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