UCT business school voted best in Africa for sixth time in a row

The UCT Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) has been rated the top business school in Africa at the 6th Eduniversal World Convention of the Best Business Schools, held from 9 to 12 October in Bangalore, India.

The UCT GSB was given top honours along with Five Palmes, which are awarded to business schools with major international influence. The American University in Cairo's School of Business ranked second and the University of Stellenbosch Business School, ranked third in Africa.

Hosted by the Indian Institute of Management, the annual convention was a meeting of business school leaders, academics, and education professionals from around the globe organised by Eduniversal, the Paris-based global ranking and rating agency specialising in higher education.

"To receive such an award from our national and international peers is an honour and a powerful testimonial to the way we teach business management and leadership at the GSB," said UCT GSB director, Walter Baets. "It is the peer-reviewed nature of the award that makes Eduniversal ranking a crucial metric to measure our progress."

The Eduniversal International Scientific Committee (ISC) nominates a selection of 1,000 business schools from 153 countries, across nine geographic zones. Schools are nominated based on a global mapping system made up of criteria such as universality and international reputation. From the selection, deans and directors of the business schools are asked to vote for the school they recommend most.

"The GSB strives to be the leading business school in Africa. We place a special emphasis on leadership and management with an African perspective. To have our efforts recognised by the international community is heartening and encourages us to pursue our agenda," said Baets.

Pranav Tandon, an Indian student who completed his MBA in 2012 at the GSB, was on hand to receive the award for the school.

Baets said that the Eduniversal ranking, which is based on the rating of peers, complements other business school rankings, which are based on employer ratings like the QS Top 200 Global Business Schools or alumni ratings such as the Financial Times and Which MBA rankings.

The UCT GSB full-time MBA is the only one in Africa to feature in the Financial Times' 2013 Top 100 Global MBA Ranking. In 2013, the GSB Executive MBA was also the only African EMBA to feature in the Economist's Which MBA ranking, and the school was also ranked top in Africa by the 2013 QS Top 200 Global Business Schools ranking. The GSB is now one of just 59 business schools worldwide to be triple-crowned, having accrediation from the European Foundation for Management Development (EQUIS); the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB); and The Association of MBAs (AMBA).

"These achievements make it possible for us to say that the GSB has more top rankings and accreditations than any other business school on the continent. And although these are not the only thing that should be important to a business school, they do give a good third part endorsement of the quality and integrity of an institution," said Baets.