The 20-first view of business schools
How progressive are they?
Business schools produce the up and coming cadre of many future global business leaders. Therefore, what they do on the gender issue will have a major impact on the future of management in the real world.
Currently, the gender balance on MBA programmes is uneven. On average about 70% of the people taking an MBA at the world’s top 20 business schools are male. In the FT Global MBA Ranking 2009, the best score comes from George Washington University and the Boston University School of Management, where 45% of the MBA students are women. This is still relatively unusual. Among the top 20 business schools in the same ranking, the percentages range from 22% at IMD to 38% at the Harvard Business School. (FT Global Rankings).
One day, we hope, there will be 50/50 balance in most programmes and the issue won’t require special study. Until then, this section will report on the latest trends and initiatives at the world’s top schools.
Interviews include Frank Brown, Insead, John Wells, IMD, Bernard Ramanantsoa, Dean, HEC, Santiago Iñiguez de Ozoño, IE business school and Professor Philippe Haspeslagh of the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School.
Business schools ranked by gender balance
McGill and Shanghai Jiao Tong come out on top
We have compiled two league tables.
One shows the 20 business schools that have achieved the best gender balance in terms of their MBA students.
- McGILL University in Canada and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China top the list.
- They are both at over 50% female students (53% and 52% respectively).
The other table presents the world’s 20 top global business schools (according to the FT). There is not much overlap between the two!
Click here to see the two tables.
The Quebec Phenomenon
No 1 in the gender stakes!
How did McGill manage to achieve 50/50 gender parity in its MBA programme in 2007? And why was it a one-off?
INSEAD
“I’ve long been of the view that diverse groups have more fun, come to better conclusions, do a more fulsome exploration of the options and are less likely to be railroaded by one or two strong ideas.”
Frank Brown, Dean, Insead
IMD
“Compared to the issue of the quality of our programmes, the gender question is very much a second level issue”
John Wells, President, IMD
HEC
“Our MBA and Masters programmes are focusing on what we call soft skills or the leadership skills. And for obvious reasons if there are not enough women it is probably once again less efficient. The more you go to the soft skills the more important it is to have women.”
Bernard Ramanantsoa, Dean, HEC
Featured
- Why So Few Women Pursue MBAs
- Global MBA Rankings 2010
- IEDP Publishes 20-first's Global Gender Balance Scorecard
- Gains, and Drawbacks, for Female professors
- Business Schools and Gender Balance : Why the Blind Spot?
- Michigan Appoints Alison Davis-Blake as Next Dean
- Business Schools Shrink Their Gender Gap
- EMBAs No Better?
- Women Prefer Thunderbird, Stockholm and Toronto Business Schools for Executive Education
- Centre for Studies about Women in Business Is Under Threat
- Male MBAs Have 30% Higher Pay Expectations Than Women
