Campus News

‘Financial Times’ ranks Executive M.B.A. program among world’s best

The Executive M.B.A. program at the Terry College of Business is ranked as one of the best in the world, according to a new survey by the Financial Times.

In the Times’ global ranking for 2010, the Terry Executive M.B.A. ranked 60th in the world and 23rd in the U.S. Among public business schools on the list, the Terry program is a top 10 school.

Terry’s Executive M.B.A. is an ­18-month degree program geared toward mid- to senior-level professionals, with weekend classes taught at the college’s Executive Education Center in Buckhead.

The average salary reported by graduates three years after completing the program was $165,042, which ranks 18th among M.B.A. programs in the U.S. That salary figure also represents a 47 percent increase in average alumni salary, based on survey answers provided by graduates of the Terry Executive M.B.A. program from 2007 who were asked to compare their current compensation with their pre-executive M.B.A. salaries.

“The M.B.A. programs that we offer in Atlanta are designed to provide students with personal attention so that they can enhance their careers,” said Robert Sumichrast, dean of the Terry College. “The nearly 50 percent increase in salary measured by the Financial Times is another testament to the quality of the Terry M.B.A. experience.”

Within the ranking, the Terry Executive M.B.A. program rated 13th among U.S. business schools for a measure the Financial Times calls “aims achieved.” It quantifies the extent to which executive M.B.A. graduates reported fulfilling their most important goals for pursuing an M.B.A. degree.

According to the Financial Times, two sets of online surveys were used to compile the results. The first survey was completed by the business schools that met the Times’ criteria for inclusion, and the second was completed by alumni who graduated three years ago.

The information gathered from the business schools includes such criteria as diversity of faculty and students, international reach of the program, languages spoken by students and the productivity of faculty publishing articles in major academic and practitioner journals. The Terry College’s faculty research ranking in the survey was 17th among U.S. business schools.

The Terry Executive M.B.A. program is one of three executive M.B.A. programs in Georgia that are ranked in the Financial Times’ top 100. The other two are Emory’s Goizueta Business School (41st in the world, 13th in the U.S.) and Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business (78th in the world, 31st in the U.S.).