Stanford tops Harvard in 2012 Best Business Schools Rankings

The Stanford University Graduate School of Business surpassed Harvard Business School for the top spot in the latest US News’s 2012 rankings of Best Business Schools.

Stanford had tied with Harvard for the lead spot for the past three years, but was able to claim sole possession this year as Harvard’s overall score slipped to 98 from the 100 that had become commonplace for the Cambridge, Mass. institution.

The change at the top of the rankings is far from the only shift taking place in the business school realm. M.B.A. programmes nationwide are being forced to drastically alter their approach to M.B.A. instruction given the increasingly global nature of the business world.

Esteemed programmes like the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, which has the third-ranked international programme this year and is tied for third in the overall rankings, and the Yale University School of Management, tied for 10th overall, have made sweeping changes to their curricula to better prepare students to approach their careers with an international mindset.

The Thunderbird School of Global Management is this year’s top-ranked international M.B.A. programme, followed by the University of South Carolina Moore School of Business.

Though Stanford’s ascent carries significance, other business programmes made bigger jumps in the rankings from last year to this year. The University of California—Davis Graduate School of Management leapt 14 spots from a tie at 42nd to a tie at 28th; the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management jumped from a tie at 36th to a tie at 28th; and the Rice University Jones Graduate School of Business climbed from a tie at 39th last year to a tie at 34th in the 2012 rankings.

M.B.A. hiring has begun a gradual turnaround, but was stagnant during the recession. Executive M.B.A.s, on the other hand, fared much better during the economic tumult and are continuing to flourish as the market improves, though E.M.B.A.s typically cost a great deal more than a traditional, full-time M.B.A., forcing many to rely on an employer to subsidize the education.

The Wharton School once again topped the executive M.B.A. list, and the remainder of the top five stayed the same, though the University of Chicago Booth School of Business captured the second spot from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, which placed third.

A growing number of ranked business schools are tapping into their on-campus resources in the hopes of creating online M.B.A. programmes that are on par with their well-regarded traditional offerings. This fall, the 19th ranked University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School will launch a comprehensive online degree programme that is instructed by the very professors that teach on campus.

Similar programmes have long been in place at Indiana University Kelley School of Business, which is tied for 23rd this year, and Pennsylvania State University, which is tied for 40th.

U.S. News also ranked part-time programmes, which, like online and E.M.B.A. programmes, are convenient for those who don’t want or can’t afford to take time off from work as they further their graduate business education. Northwestern, Chicago, and the University of California—Berkeley Haas School of Business once again garnered the top three spots in the part-time M.B.A. rankings.