UCT GSB stands alone

Professor Frank Horwitz, Director of the UCT GSB: The school will not rest on its laurels. “We dare not become complacent,” he says.

The UCT MBA improved in no less than seven Financial Times assessment categories – most notably being rated the second best MBA globally in terms of “value for money”. An evaluation of the 2008 rankings table reveals that the UCT GSB now ranks amongst the top five business schools based in emergent markets such as Africa, India and China.

This fourth successive Financial Times Top 100 ranking comes soon after the UCT GSB achieved a five-year (the maximum) re-accreditation by Equis, the European Quality stamp for international business schools.

“This Financial Times achievement is consistent with the UCT GSB's vision as a business school focusing on leadership development and research on emergent market business issues,” said Professor Frank Horwitz, Director of the UCT GSB.

“I am very proud that the School has consistently been ranked among the leading business schools internationally. We clearly punch above our weight. The School has worked hard at internationalisation, with some 26 global student exchange programmes and regular visiting faculty from leading business schools. “These exchange programmes include three of the Top 10 business Schools – London, Chicago and Columbia, and three of the Top 5 Asian Schools, namely Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Indian School of Business, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University,” he said.

The international reputation of the UCT GSB, said Horwitz, is further attested to by its fulltime and modular MBA programmes being over subscribed this year, with a significant number of international students attending, especially from Europe and other African countries. In addition, more of the UCT GSB's academic staff are invited each year as visiting professors to other business schools abroad.

According to Lance Stringer, the UCT GSB's MBA Director, “There is no doubt that the FT ranking has acted as an important market signal that the UCT MBA is amongst the best and worthy of consideration. There is a growing interest in experiencing, learning about and studying in emergent economies and the UCT MBA certainly is attracting significant new interest. This brings an exciting intellectual and cultural diversity to the UCT MBA and allows our MBAs to be exposed to a rich set of ideas and challenges about doing business both internationally and in emergent markets.”

Some of the other Financial Times categories in which the UCT GSB has improved its rankings include Career progress of graduates (from position 53 to 35); International faculty (33 to 29); International students (28 to 9) and International mobility of graduates (30 to 16).

Horwitz said that despite these positive movements the School would not be resting on its laurels, and that it is committed to pursuing higher levels of excellence. “I still believe there are areas we must improve on to ensure we remain internationally credible and competitive as one of the world's leading emergent market business schools. We dare not become complacent,” said Horwitz.

The UCT GSB's overall 2008 ranking was 71, while at the top of the 2008 rankings there was no change in the number one spot, with Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania retaining the top place. London Business School has moved from fifth to second place and Columbia Business School is third.