Africa ranks in global business education

22 May 2012

The annual UK Financial Times Executive Education Rankings 2012 was recently released and showed the world that Africa is a business education force to be reckoned with, with five African schools placing well.

"Placing is no mean feat, as the FT rankings are highly selective. Only business schools with a strong international orientation and a high reputation are eligible - and very few of these are from countries outside Europe and the US," says director of Executive Education at the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB), Zandile Nkhata.

The rankings

The UCT GSB came in 6th in the rankings for international students, and Nkhata says this is indicative of the increasing appeal of South Africa as a destination for foreign students looking to gain a fresh insight into developing economies.

"The ranking also reflects that South Africa is increasingly being recognised as an education destination that offers both quality and value-for-money. South Africa offers not just international standards combined with good value for money but also something intangible: the chance to grapple with the power of business and business thinking in one of the most challenging economies in the world, to effect positive change."

But business education as a whole in Africa is making its mark in the FT rankings: the UCT GSB, University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, (WITS), University of Stellenbosch Business School, Cape Town (USB) [in South Africa] and the Lagos Business School, Nigeria are all ranked at 65th, 42nd, 55th, 57th and 54th respectively in the Executive Education lists.

"The achievements of these five business schools serve as great promotion for business education in South Africa and on the African continent as a whole. It sends a strong message to the international market that African business education is globally competitive, and given the exchange rate, they are good value for money. In fact, the UCT MBA is rated by the FT in its full-time MBA rankings as the best value for money MBA in the world."

The Financial Times' survey, which has been running for 13 years, presents a global benchmark for providers of executive education. The customised ranking is compiled using data from two sets of online surveys - one for schools, another for clients. Business schools are asked for details of a number of top clients, who are then invited to complete an online survey about the school that nominated them.

View the full ranking.