UB MBA program cracks top 40 in Bloomberg Businessweek ranking

By Jacqueline Molik Ghosen

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The UB School of Management has vaulted 18 places in Bloomberg Businessweek’s ranking of the nation’s best full-time MBA programs, coming in at No. 39, the highest the school has been ranked since the ranking began in 1988.

Among public universities, the School of Management is No. 16.

The School of Management fared particularly well in the employer satisfaction component of the survey with a rank of No. 19.

“In addition to reflecting our student satisfaction, this ranking is a ringing endorsement from recruiters,” said Arjang A. Assad, dean of the UB School of Management. “It shows that we are producing graduates who possess the skills and attributes most valued by businesses throughout the world.”

The UB School of Management is the only school in the Buffalo Niagara region to make the list.

The rankings are based on student satisfaction (45 percent), corporate recruiter satisfaction (45 percent) and an intellectual capital rating (10 percent) based on the number of articles published by each school's faculty in 20 publications. Bloomberg Businessweek also ranks the top non-U.S. schools.

More than 10,600 MBA graduates from the class of 2014 at 112 schools in North America, Europe and Asia were surveyed. They evaluated their schools on such topics as teaching quality, the effectiveness of career services, and other aspects of their B-school experience. New this year, students also were asked questions about school culture.

According Bloomberg Businessweek, this year’s student survey scores comprise 2014 student data (75 percent) and 2012 student data (25 percent).

In a newly revised employer survey, 1,320 recruiters from 614 companies selected from a list the five qualities they seek in hiring MBAs and which graduates offer those qualities. The list was compiled from in-depth interviews with a range of recruitment professionals and included such traits as adaptability, analytical thinking, communications skills, leadership and strategic thinking.

Recruiters were asked to identify and rate up to 10 schools at which they had significant recruiting experience in the last five years.

Employer scores were based on the average rating by employers (a measure of the school’s quality) and the number of good ratings it received (a measure of the school’s reach). Because of the changes to this year’s employer survey, and in the interest of using the freshest available data, Bloomberg Businessweek used only 2014 results, discontinuing the practice of weighting the results using three years of biennial scores.

The UB School of Management is recognized for its emphasis on real-world learning, community and economic impact, and the global perspective of its faculty, students and alumni. The school also has been ranked by the Financial Times, Forbes and U.S. News & World Report for the quality of its programs and the return on investment it provides its graduates. For more information about the UB School of Management, visit mgt.buffalo.edu.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. UB’s nearly 30,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.