While many U.S. business schools continue to report declining annual applications—even to some of the most prestigious (and lucrative) MBA programs in the world—many of the best European business schools continue to flourish. According to the Financial Times, application volume in the continent increased by around 63 percent in 2019.
With steadily increasing applications, the newest Financial Times European business school ranking saw a couple of modest shifts, including at the very top.
HEC Paris and the London Business School swapped the first and second spots from the 2018 ranking, with the French school earning first overall billing this time around. The school’s Executive MBA program was also ranked as the best in the world by FT earlier this year. In addition, the Masters in Management offering from the school earned the second highest overall score in the new ranking.
When it comes specifically to MBA education, another French business school claimed the top spot, however. INSEAD earned the publication’s highest MBA honors among European institutions this year, followed by Spain’s IESE Business School and the aforementioned London Business School. IESE, however, did manage to earn the top overall score for the custom executive education category. The top 10 in the 2019 best European business schools ranking is as follows:
| School | 2019 Ranking | 2018 Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| HEC Paris | 1 | 2 |
| London Business School | 2 | 1 |
| SDA Boconni | 3 | 6 |
| University of St. Gallen | 4 | 4 |
| INSEAD | 5 | 3 |
| IESE | 6 | 5 |
| Essec Business School | 7 | 8 |
| IE | 8 | 20 |
| ESMT Berlin | 9 | 24 |
| Oxford Saïd | 10 | 10 |
Financial Times‘ Best European Business Schools: Rising, Falling
Two new entrants cracked the top 10 for 2019 after some monumental increases from the previous year: the IE Business School in Spain and ESMT Berlin, the top-ranked business school in Germany. The latter also set the standard this year for the highest climb in the rankings overall, tied with Nyenrode Business Universiteit in the Netherlands, moving up 15 places.
However, the majority of the top 50 remained the same in 2019 as it did in 2018, with only the University of Strathclyde Business School—slipping from 39th last year to 51st this year—falling outside the top half.
Among the newest entries to the list, few have come further than Trinity College Dublin, which had not appeared on FT‘s best European business schools ranking since 2007. The school’s first appearance in over a decade came in part due solid rankings for its Executive MBA (46th) and MiM (66th). In total, only five new schools cracked the ranking after not appearing in 2018.
To check out the entire Financial Times ranking, click here.