The 2017 Best Executive MBA Program Rankings

We are proud to announce the launch of our 2017 Best Executive MBA Programs.

Ivy Exec surveyed over 5,000 professionals from our community to learn about 200 EMBA programs around the globe, 162 of which made it onto our final list of programs executives should consider when contemplating an EMBA degree.

Each year, these rankings are published to help our community members learn more about top Executive MBA offerings worldwide and how they compare based on factors our community deems important for differentiating among top Executive MBA offerings.

The rankings are formed by measuring scores in areas of Prestige, Career Advancement, Curriculum, Global Experience, and Life Balance, to determine their overall ranking amongst programs globally, and in their region.

We are pleased to introduce these 162 programs which represent the best of the best across the globe.

#1 – INSEAD Global Executive MBA

INSEAD’s program climbed from #8 in our 2016 rankings and claimed the top spot in 2017. Monikered “The Business School for the world,” the program draws students to its campuses in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

What contributes to INSEAD’s top spot?  “Most EMBA programmes claim to be diverse. But, unlike other schools, INSEAD has never had a dominant national culture” the University suggests, “This has enabled us to turn diversity (over 50 nationalities in the Class of 2017) into a powerful learning tool.”

INSEAD’s program ranked #1 for Global Experience, Prestige, Career Advancement, and Curriculum.

Top 10 Shuffle

This year’s ranking methodology was updated versus 2016, affecting the overall rankings.  In contrast to 2016’s global, ‘top down’ approach, 2017 the survey process was ‘regionalized’.  This means that survey respondents evaluated EMBA programs offered in their specific geographic areas and the regional results were then rolled up to the overall global results.  Most top programs retained spots in the upper echelon, but moved around within the top ten. Last year’s #1, Wharton, dropped to the seventh spot. Perhaps more surprisingly, it’s West-Coast based campus managed to surpass the Philly campus and land itself a comfy seat at #4.

Kellogg’s Executive MBA program (#2), and Chicago Booth’s Executive MBA program(#3) maintained their positions, while London Business School’s Executive MBA moved from 4th in 2016 to 5th this year.

The Duke Global Executive MBA climbed from 9th to 6th, Berkeley’s MBA for executives rose from 13th to 8th, the IMD Executive MBA halved its rank of 18th to 9th, and the Columbia Business School Executive MBA moved from 7th to 10th.

New York’s leading business school should not be concerned; Columbia takes the spot for the second best program in the Ivy-League hotbed that is the Northeast, beating out the likes of MIT, Yale, and other big apple contenders: NYU, and Cornell NY Metro. Additionally, Columbia will be proud to boast the #1 Joint EMBA program: “EMBA-Global Americas and Europe,” a position it has defended from last year’s ranking.

Around The World in 162 Programs

Almost every program offers a global experience and takes participants around the world. IE Business School’s program, for example, brings students to Madrid, Singapore, Los Angeles and Sao Paulo.

But sometimes, program attendees are looking for an EMBA whose main campus is a little closer to home.

This year, our rankings have been broken down by regions around the globe, including the United States (North East, Mid-Atlantic/South, Midwest, West), Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

More EMBA Programs of Note From Around The Globe:

• Europe
  • SSE Executive MBA Global Format (Sweden)
  • The Cranfield Executive MBA (United Kingdom)
  • IE Global Executive MBA (Spain)
  • London Business School Executive MBA (England)
  • INSEAD Global Executive MBA (France)
• Canada
  • Global Energy Executive MBA (Alberta)
  • Sobey Executive MBA (Nova Scotia)
  • The Alberta Haskayne Executive MBA (Alberta)
• United States
  • North East
    • Villanova Executive MBA (Pennsylvania)
    • Fox Executive MBA (Pennsylvania)
    • Katz EMBA Worldwide Program (Pennsylvania)
    • Fordham Executive MBA (New York)
    • The Rutgers Executive MBA Program (New Jersey)
    • Cornell Executive MBA Metro New York (New York)
  • Mid-Atlantic / South
    • Auburn Executive MBA (Alabama)
    • Tulane Executive MBA (Louisiana)
    • University of Georgia, Executive MBA (Georgia)
    • TCU Neeley Executive MBA (Texas)
    • The University of Florida Executive MBA (Florida)
    • The World Executive MBA With Cyber Security (Washington D.C.)
  • Midwest
    • Broad Executive MBA (Michigan)
    • IMM Global EMBA Program (Indiana)
    • The Fisher Executive MBA (Ohio)
    • The Purdue Executive MBA (Indiana)
  • West
    • CU EMBA (Colorado)
    • The UC Irvine Executive MBA Program (California)
• Cross-Border Partner Programs
  • EADA-HHL Global Executive MBA (HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, EADA Business School Barcelona)
  • The Executive MBA Americas (Cornell University, Queen’s University)
  • EMBA-Global Americas and Europe (London Business School, Columbia Business School)