Ranking MBA programs a booming business
The deregulation of business school tuition in the ’90s had mostly positive effects on business education in the country, but there was also a negative result. Universities are now spending a lot more money on marketing, says Salman Mufti, program director of Queen’s University’s MBA for Science and Technology.
“Just like a business we now have to go out and brand ourselves,” he says.
Aside from spending more on advertising, this means the growing number of business magazine MBA rankings have taken on a new significance.
When asked, the business schools typically downplay the importance of the rankings since they should be but one of many factors used by students in school selection.
However, they are also quick to point out what rankings their school did best on and in what areas they scored the best.
A few years ago, the rankings didn’t have the same kind of importance they do now, says Maura Paré, director of public affairs at the University of Western Ontario’s Ivey School of Business. What’s more, there has been a considerable increase in the number of surveys out there.
Not long ago, the Financial Times (still acknowledged by most to be the best) and Canadian Business were the only surveys of import, but last year Ivey completed 10 different surveys. The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, BusinessWeek, US News and World Report and the National Post all do their own surveys now.
“It has become a job in itself for the business schools just to manage the rankings,” says Paré.
Why the increase? Advertising. They are always popular issues and all the schools and big consulting firms advertise in them, she says.
The universities have become more competitive and are running their operations like businesses, so despite protestations that they would rather not get involved, they realize they have to, says Scott Steele, executive editor of Canadian Business, which published its first MBA ranking in 1991.
Though there are complaints from some of the schools about “survey fatigue,” he says most of the schools do care about how they perform on the rankings.
Most years, there are complaints and lobbying efforts from the schools to change the rankings to so that their schools will do better, says Steele.
Last year, the Rotman School of Management from the University of Toronto was noticeably absent from Canadian Business’ list, but that is because they want to concentrate on international rankings, says Steele. Ivey also didn’t complete all of the information and still insists the Canadian Business rankings put too much emphasis on ROI, but ROI only accounts for 10 per cent of the total ranking. And while Rotman took a pass on the Canadian Business survey last year, both the magazine and the school received complaints about the absence.
The rankings have become important to the schools because there isn’t a lot of money out there for advertising and it’s free publicity, admits Paré. A good ranking can help a school attract the top talent.
“Everybody holds their breath when those things come out because if you drop you have to explain why,” she says.
“Just like a business we now have to go out and brand ourselves,” he says.
Aside from spending more on advertising, this means the growing number of business magazine MBA rankings have taken on a new significance.
When asked, the business schools typically downplay the importance of the rankings since they should be but one of many factors used by students in school selection.
However, they are also quick to point out what rankings their school did best on and in what areas they scored the best.
A few years ago, the rankings didn’t have the same kind of importance they do now, says Maura Paré, director of public affairs at the University of Western Ontario’s Ivey School of Business. What’s more, there has been a considerable increase in the number of surveys out there.
Not long ago, the Financial Times (still acknowledged by most to be the best) and Canadian Business were the only surveys of import, but last year Ivey completed 10 different surveys. The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, BusinessWeek, US News and World Report and the National Post all do their own surveys now.
“It has become a job in itself for the business schools just to manage the rankings,” says Paré.
Why the increase? Advertising. They are always popular issues and all the schools and big consulting firms advertise in them, she says.
The universities have become more competitive and are running their operations like businesses, so despite protestations that they would rather not get involved, they realize they have to, says Scott Steele, executive editor of Canadian Business, which published its first MBA ranking in 1991.
Though there are complaints from some of the schools about “survey fatigue,” he says most of the schools do care about how they perform on the rankings.
Most years, there are complaints and lobbying efforts from the schools to change the rankings to so that their schools will do better, says Steele.
Last year, the Rotman School of Management from the University of Toronto was noticeably absent from Canadian Business’ list, but that is because they want to concentrate on international rankings, says Steele. Ivey also didn’t complete all of the information and still insists the Canadian Business rankings put too much emphasis on ROI, but ROI only accounts for 10 per cent of the total ranking. And while Rotman took a pass on the Canadian Business survey last year, both the magazine and the school received complaints about the absence.
The rankings have become important to the schools because there isn’t a lot of money out there for advertising and it’s free publicity, admits Paré. A good ranking can help a school attract the top talent.
“Everybody holds their breath when those things come out because if you drop you have to explain why,” she says.
