Barcelona's business schools maintain their leadership among global academic institutions that provide training to high-level international executives, basically focused on teaching economics and business.
The latest Executive Education Ranking 2022, released this Monday by the British newspaper Financial Times, a global reference in this field, places IESE Business School, in second place, and ESADE, in fourth, among the top five positions, after evaluating all parameters of the executive training they provide and the competencies obtained by the senior executives who study at these institutions. The ranking also includes a third Barcelona business school among the 50 best academic centers in the world: EADA, in 33rd position after climbing ten places in the global ranking in the last year.
Regarding IESE's consolidated leadership, the ranking highlights the high levels of participant satisfaction, the usefulness of the skills acquired, and the promotion of new ways of thinking in the programs offered. IESE's internationality (both in the design of the courses and in the combination of professors and participants) has also been highlighted by the ranking, as has the diversity and quality of its faculty and participants, according to the center itself. For six consecutive years ---between 2015 and 2020---, IESE remained the world leader. In 2021, no ranking was published due to the coronavirus crisis.
In this year's ranking, for programs with access for entrepreneurs and managers from any company, IESE has obtained excellent ratings for the overall satisfaction of its participants, who have scored their academic experience with an average of 9.95 out of 10, the highest rating awarded to any of the ranked schools, according to a statement released by the business school.
Regarding the programs it specifically develops for companies, IESE has also achieved high ratings for the internationality of its senior students and professors, the high probability that corporate clients will return to IESE for further training, and strong alliances with other schools such as Harvard and Wharton.
For its part, regarding ESADE, the quality in the process prior to enrollment stands out, as well as the program design, teaching methodology, didactic material, excellence of the faculty, acquisition of skills and competencies, and post-program follow-up.
Marc Correa, director of Esade Executive Education, mentions the need to update, acquire, and develop new key skills for the future of professionals, and to adapt to new teaching formats such as hybrid programs (60% digital and 40% in-person), which they have offered since 2018. All of this has positioned it in the third position in the world in terms of "hyper-personalized, flexible, and specialized training with the latest immersive technologies, capable of adapting to current needs," states Correa.
Business schools are adapting their programs to new business needsIn the open programs category, Esade Executive Education has been recognized as the fourth best business school in the world because "it has placed the professional at the center of the educational process, allowing them to design their own academic itinerary, so that they can address their training needs while it is compatible with their personal and professional agendas," according to a school statement.
Finally, in addition to climbing positions in the general ranking, EADA also moves up ten places in the open programs category. "We are revitalizing the program offerings to adapt them to the demand of current businesses and the attributes they seek in their professionals, and therefore new disciplines such as sustainability have become part of the courses we teach," highlight sources from the business school. EADA drops two positions in personalized programs, "because after COVID it is costly to restart specific courses for companies," they add.