Barcelona continues to lead the rankings of European business schools and is climbing positions. This year, three of the main academic institutions rooted in the city are among the top 25 centers in this category in Europe, according to the classification published annually by the newspaper Financial Times.
The academic institutions IESE Business School, in fourth place; ESADE Business School, in thirteenth, and EADA Business School, in twenty-fifth position, share the ranking with very outstanding qualifications, and compete with other prestigious centers in cities such as London, Paris or Berlin. Their positioning reflects the excellence of the different programs, which are taught on their respective campuses. Proof of this is that this year EADA has improved its already good position and has climbed four steps compared to the previous year, from 29th to 25th in the ranking. Meanwhile, IESE remains stable and ESADE drops from 12th to 13th place, according to the same publication.
This year's index has the particularity that training during 2020 had to adapt to the pandemic and, therefore, online courses intensified. In this sense, the dean of EADA Business School, Jordi Díaz, highlights how business schools have also been able to adapt to the context and a permanently changing situation. Similarly, he insists that the education for active professionals provided by these academic institutions was already hybrid, but "not only because of its online-offline technological connection but because students must constantly enter and exit activities", adapting to their training and work needs.
The 2020 FT European Business Schools ranking, which analyzed 95 European business schools, is the most recognized in the academic field because it is based on an average of the various specific rankings carried out throughout the year. The latter refer to the different programs offered by the schools (MBA, EMBA, Master in Management, Open Executive Education and Custom Programmes). In fact, to be included in the ranking, Financial Times requires EQUIS academic accreditation or that issued by the AACSB as an essential condition.
In the case of MBA and EMBA, IESE Business School programs are among the top five of the different business schools in Europe. As for MBAs, ESADE also stands out, recognized among the top ten schools, and EADA, among the top 25 institutions. Likewise, ESADE's Open Executive Education and Custom Programmes stand out in the Top 10 of the ranking.
The four training programs evaluated account for 25% of the global score, analyzing both the quality and the overall offering, but other factors such as the faculty are also taken into account, from the point of view of gender, nationality, and academic level.
IESE Business School has one of the highest percentages, 97%, regarding the internationalization of its faculty, who are all doctorates. The level of doctorates is also a differential characteristic of ESADE. Regarding EADA, 90% of the professors have a doctorate and 53% are foreign.
Also featured in the ranking, one more year, are IE Business School, which maintains the 12th position achieved in 2019, and in 73rd place is Universidad Carlos III, both from Madrid. European leadership goes to HEC Paris, London Business School, and Insead, also French.