10 Top Business Schools in Europe

Ten Top Business Schools in Europe 2007 2008

HEC Paris

Financial Times (FT) has come out with a ranking of Europe’s top business schools for the 2007/2008 academic year.

If you aspire to take an MBA to add your marketability and enhance your career, these are the schools that you need to be aiming at. Many of the institutions to date have produced recognized business leaders and their country’s decision makers.

The ranking is determined by a number of factors and perimeters such as the position in the European school list, the average MBA salary, the MBA salary increase and the business programs and courses offered.

The top 10 business schools in the list as below:

1. HEC Paris (France)
Established in 1881 by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris, The HEC Paris School of Management stands tall as a prestigious school with impressive production line capability. Many of HEC’s top graduates went on to become recognizable faces in the business and politics world, such as country ministers, the President of International Monetary Fund (IMF), the director of World Trade Organization (WTO), and CEO’s of top Fortune global companies.

The school also holds reputation to producing ground breaking research and findings, high quality programs and respectable student body. HEC offers various courses that include Master’s Degree, MBA (both full time and part time), PhD, Executive MBA and other programs. It maintains its top ranking for the 3rd consecutive years.

2. London Business School, LBS (United Kingdom)
Belonging to the University to the University of London constituent, LBS is known for its ability to attract world class students and executives alike. More than half of the students enrolling with the London Business School comes from outside of the UK. At the moment, about 800 students are enrolled with the school. Among major courses offered are in the field of Marketing, Finance, Strategy, Economics, Accounting, Technology Management, Corporate Social Responsibility and so on.

The school has consistently been ranked as one of the top business institutions in Europe and the UK. It is also well-known to produce many of the world’s familiar faces and business leaders such as Sir David Bell (Chairman, Financial Times Group), Tony Wheeler (founder, Lonely Planet), Richard Thomas (Deputy Director, UK Ministry of Defense), Dyfrig John (CEO, HSBC Bank) and many others.

3. INSEAD (France)
Apart from the main campus in France, INSEAD also has campuses based in Singapore and Middle East. The school differentiates itself from the rest with the presence of multi-cultural diversity and global reach. The MBA programs offered cover a myriad of fields including Finance, Economics, Organizational Behavior, Statistics, Accounting, Supply Chain Management, Corporate Strategy and so on.

All applicants wishing to enter INSEAD will have to face a pretty tough screening process. Every applicant needs to have a minimum Degree, and as a pre-requisite, he or she will be required to submit a long essay which supports their case of admission. Another two rounds of interview will follow upon the successful short listing of the initial stage. Their schools alumni come from more than 160 countries worldwide.

4. IMD (Switzerland)
A not-for-profit business school, IMD or International Institute for Management Development is located in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was born in January 1990 after two management education centers decided to combine and merge into one business school. The school places its emphasis and focus on training and development of general management and nurturing of leadership skill.

IMD has to date produced countless of CEOs and Chairmans for leading corporations such as Nestle, Standard Chartered, McKinsey & Co., Novartis, Telenor and so on. On average, the school admits not more than 100 students per intake, while the curriculum designed is tailored towards getting the students ready for the real business experience and world.

5. IE Business School (Spain)
IE, a private educational institution is the number 1 ranked business school in Spain. It houses approximately 1,500 students coming from various countries and continents at one time, and enroll in various programs including Master’s Degree, MBA, Executive Degrees and PhD. With its main campus located in Madrid, the school also has offices and representatives in 17 countries.

IE works closely with a number of top business schools in the US including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Babson College as well as the Wharton School to offer partnership courses to the students. More than 20% of the IE graduates ended up opening their own successful companies and businesses.

6. IESE Business School (Spain)
Another top business school from Spain, with campuses in Barcelona and Madrid. IESE, which stands for Institute of Higher Business Studies (English) is widely recognized to offer prestigious MBA and Executive programs. It is also one of the earliest tertiary institutions to have offered collaborative educational experience with a number of business schools in the United States.

There are currently more than 30,000 alumni who are working and living in more than 100 countries worldwide. The history of IESE started in 1957 when the management team of the University of Navarra felt the need of a graduate business school which led to the setting up of its first campus in Barcelona.

7. ESCP-EAP European School of Management (France)
In 2000, two tertiary institutions, ESCP and EAP decided to merge to become one business school, The ESCP-EAP European School of Management, offering a wide range of business related courses including Masters, MBA, PhD and other customized programs. The history of the 2 schools dated back more than a century ago and both are rich with the achievements and accomplishments.

ESCP-EAP has five campuses around the European continent in Paris, Madrid, London and Turin. The school enroll approximately 3,500 students every year, who come from various countries and diverse culture.

8. Rotterdam School of Management (Netherlands)
Better known as RSM Erasmus (as the school belongs to Erasmus University), the institution has been enjoying its status as a highly reputable business school in the region as well as in the world for more than 3 decades. Backed by one of the largest business school faculties, with more than 100 PhD students and over 250 researchers, it is consistently ranked as one of the top schools year in and year out.

With 10 research centers and over 100 partner schools, RSM can offer education to more than 1,000 executives, and 7,500 undergrads and postgrads every year. Based in the Rotterdam city, its various programs offered include Bachelor programs, Master’s, MBA, Doctoral, Executives and Research.

9. EM Lyon (France)
EM Lyon, which stands for Ecole de Management de Lyon (means Lyon Management School) was first established in 1872 by a number of local folks in the city of Lyon. Some of the distinguished programs offered by the school are Entrepreneurship, Executive, Doctoral, Masters in Management, European Business, as well as MBA (both full time and part time).

EM Lyon is the third ranked school in France, and frequently maintains its position in the top ten school ranking in the Europe. The school is proud with its triple accreditation from EFMD, AMBA and AACSB.

10. ESADE Business School (Spain)
ESADE is the associate of Spain’s top independent university, Ramon Llull which is based in Barcelona. ESADE contains not only a business school but also a law school, with strong 6,000 students enrolling in various courses and programs. More than 100 universities worldwide have collaboration with ESADE.

One unique characteristic of the school is the personalized Career Service it can offer to the students in terms of advisory, guidance and consultation. The office has also to date assisted more than 4,000 students getting internship and training all around the world. Graduates from ESADE are highly sought after by top companies and corporations.