Efforts by Kelley faculty and staff enabled students to attend in person.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – In new MBA rankings from The Economist, the Full-Time MBA Program at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business jumped from 40th to 13th worldwide and from 22nd to eighth among U.S. business schools.
Normally, the Economist announces its rankings in the fall, but the Covid-19 pandemic created data collection issues and the UK-based publication opted to hold off releasing its annual rankings until early 2021. Although several schools chose not to participate this year, the Economist was able to rank 90 programs, using responses to quantitative and qualitative questions from thousands of current and former MBA students.
In the article accompanying its rankings with WhichMBA, the Economist noted, “Business schools deserve credit for adapting their business models — as their professors preach others to do. Many delayed the start of semesters, offered generous scholarships, waived exam requirements and liberalized policies on deferrals.”
Kyle Cattani
Kyle Cattani, MBA Program chair, SungKyunKwan Professor and professor of operations management, said he, the Full-Time MBA Program team and faculty appreciate rankings as an acknowledgement of their efforts, including during these extraordinary times.
“We are committed to providing the best experience possible for our students. For example, in this past challenging year of COVID we worked diligently to have our fall, first-year classes entirely in person,” Cattani said. “We appreciate when positive rankings reflect our efforts. We are always pleased to be recognized by The Economist as one of the top MBA programs in the world.”
The Economist bases its rankings on 20 different data points, which include return-on-investment and compensation, the range of international experiences, career services, teaching quality and diversity.
Kelley did particularly well among those with a first-hand knowledge of the program — its students and alumni — who gave the its career services, educational content and program delivery high marks.
Alumni ranked Kelley’s career services fourth best, the faculty eighth and program content ninth. The program was ranked 10th in the category, “Open New Career Opportunities.”