Financial Times rates GIBS MBA the best in Africa

19 Oct 2012

The University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) has been ranked in 60th place - having moved up seven places - in the top 100 executive MBA programmes in the latest Financial Times (FT) Executive MBA Rankings 2012. GIBS is the only business school in Africa to appear in the FT Executive MBA Rankings 2012.

The three areas the survey focused on were career progress of alumni, the diversity of the school, and idea generation.

Salaries in top three

In addition to being the number one business school in Africa for its executive MBA programme, GIBS alumni also rank in the top third of all schools throughout the world for graduate salaries in dollar terms. The latter ranking measures the average business school alumni salary three years after graduation. With 37% of GIBS students being women, only five schools worldwide have a greater proportion of females within their MBA student cohort. Representation by women on the business school's board is amongst the world's highest at 44%.

"To be ranked amongst the leading business schools globally is a great achievement for the school and speaks highly of the quality of students admitted to the programme and our graduates' career progress. The fact that our ranking has improved materially over the last year emphasises this even further," Shireen Chengadu, executive director of academic programmes at GIBS said.

Improving performance

Commenting on the announcement, Prof. Nick Binedell, dean of GIBS, said he is very pleased that GIBS has again been recognised as a top-rated business school for its MBA programme. The FT ranking demonstrates that GIBS' academic offering and quality is amongst the best in the world.

"Furthermore, the recognition of our executive MBA strengthens our efforts to be the leading business school in South Africa and to significantly improve the competitive performance of individuals and organisations through business education in dynamic markets," he added.