IIM Bangalore only Indian B-school in top-100 QS Executive MBA Rankings

Institute's PGPM ranked at 39, down from 36th position last year, followed by ISB's Post Graduate Programme in Management for Senior Executives in the 101-110 rank band

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore continued to be the only Indian business school (B-school) in the top global 100 list in the latest 2021 edition of Executive MBA Rankings by global higher education consultancy QS Quacquarelli Symonds.

IIM Bangalore's PGPM ranked at 39, down from 36th position last year, followed by Indian School of Business (ISB)'s Post Graduate Programme in Management for Senior Executives (PGP MAX) in the 101-110 rank band and IIM Kozhikode's MBA Programme for Working Executives in the 151-plus band.

All three Indian B-schools fell from their previous year rankings. In the previous 2020 QS Executive MBA Rankings, ISB's PGP-MAX was ranked at 81 while IIM Kozhikode's programme was ranked in the 101+ band.

To evaluate the quality of the world’s executive MBA programmes, QS accounts for some of the most important input and output metrics including employability outcomes, programme recognition among employers, quality of a programme’s cohort, including C-Suite and Management experience and diversity of a programme’s cohort, with an emphasis on gender and international representation.

Globally, driven by increases in its levels of international diversity, and by improvements in the one-year salary uplift that it offers its graduates, HEC Paris has taken the title of world’s number-one executive MBA provider.

In taking the global top spot, HEC Paris usurps The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Spain’s IESE Business School. While HEC Paris does not achieve the top score in any of the five metric groups used by QS to compile the rankings, its aggregate performance is sufficient to see it overtake both institutions.

QS also produced a list of the world’s best Joint Executive MBA programs. This list contains 26 joint offerings – six more than last year – and is led by TRIUM, which is jointly-provided by HEC Paris, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and New York University.

According to Nunzio Quacquarelli, CEO and Founder at QS Quacquarelli Symonds, one of the most prized benefits conferred by an Executive MBA is the quality of network its attendees acquire during their course of study. "It is therefore neither an accident nor a surprise that the world’s leading programs have made high levels of international diversity a central pillar of their offering – HEC Paris being foremost among them."

Quacquarelli further stated that the agency had so far found no evidence of a slowdown in demand for the Executive MBA.

"On the contrary, average enrolments decreased over the last application cycle, while application numbers increased by 14 per cent. With compensation for Executive MBA graduates also remaining robust, it is clear that employers continue to place a premium on the unique skill sets and experiences offered by the qualification."