University of Exeter tops Corporate Knights' Better World MBA Ranking

TORONTO, Oct. 16, 2017 /CNW/ - Today, Corporate Knights released the 15^th edition of the Better World MBA ranking, revealing a new top program globally for the first time since the ranking's inception.

The University of Exeter School of Business in the U.K. narrowly nabbed the top spot on the ranking with five dedicated courses and five institutes each related to sustainability, and 253 faculty publications related to the field in the last three years. Prior to this, Canada's York University Schulich School of Business was the top-ranked program each year. The Schulich School of Business tied for the #2 spot this year with the Warwick School of Business in the U.K.

The ranking, which has been published annually since 2002, evaluates instruction and research in sustainability from a base universe of the top 100 schools on the Financial Times Global MBA rankings, and invites all other accredited MBA programs (AMBA, AACSB, EQUIS) to opt-in. Eligible programs are assessed on the number of core courses, institutes and centres, and faculty research produced in the last three years related to sustainability, including corporate responsibility, human rights and ethics.

This year, Corporate Knights evaluated 134 programs, nine per cent more than in 2016. Of these programs, 70.9 per cent boast dedicated courses in the subject area for their MBA students, and all together this universe of programs offered 276 institutes and centres for students related to sustainability, and has published 5,326 pieces of faculty research in the last three years related to the evolving field.

The Top 40 of the Better World MBA ranking are programs that equip their graduates to understand sustainability issues and solve business problems in an interconnected climate in which environmental and social issues directly affect businesses, and for which businesses play a key role in solving.

"Businesses are re-orienting their strategies to align with the sustainable development goals for a fairer, greener planet. The Top 40 ranked Better World MBA programs are training grounds for future business leaders who want to be part of the monumental shift," said Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights.

This year's top ten was rounded out by Copenhagen Business School, Duquesne University, TIAS School for Business and Society, MIT Sloan School of Management, the University of Vermont Grossman School of Business and McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management.

Seven MBA programs dropped out of the Top 40 from last year, making way for the University of Victoria's Gustavson School of Business, KAIST, Gonzaga University and Brandeis University, among others. The number of Canadian programs recognized at this level remained steady at nine.

About Corporate Knights: Founded in 2002, Corporate Knights is a Toronto-based media and research company focused on clean capitalism – an economic system that incorporates social, economic and ecological factors – and reports on sustainability at the intersection of business and society. Corporate Knights is best known for rules-based transparent rankings of corporate sustainability performance, including the Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada and the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. Learn more at www.corporateknights.com. 

Appendix A: 2017 Better World MBA Ranking by Corporate Knights

2017 Rank	School	Country
1	University of Exeter	United Kingdom
2	York University - Schulich School of Business	Canada
2	Warwick Business School	United Kingdom
4	Copenhagen Business School	Denmark
5	Duquesne University	United States
6	TIAS School for Business and Society	Netherlands
7	Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT Sloan School of Management	United States
8	University of Vermont - Grossman	United States
9	McGill University - Desautels	Canada
10	Georgia Institute of Technology - Scheller	United States
11	University of Pennsylvania - Wharton School	United States
12	Duke University - Fuqua School of Business	United States
13	Erasmus University - Rotterdam School of Management	Netherlands
14	INSEAD	France
15	University of Calgary - Haskayne School of Business	Canada
16	Griffith Business School	Australia
17	Harvard University - Harvard Business School	United States
18	University of Bath - School of Management	United Kingdom
19	Stanford Graduate School of Business	United States
20	University of Edinburgh Business School	United Kingdom
21	University of Victoria: Gustavson	Canada
22	KAIST	South Korea
23	University of British Columbia - Sauder	Canada
24	Mannheim Business School	Germany
25	London Business School	United Kingdom
26	Yale University - Yale School of Management	United States
27	Saint Mary's University - Sobey School of Business	Canada
28	University of Strathclyde - Business School	United Kingdom
29	Nottingham University	United Kingdom
30	University of Cambridge - Judge Business School	United Kingdom
31	Simon Fraser University Beedie	Canada
32	George Washington University - School of Business	United States
33	Gonzaga University	United States
34	Macquarie Graduate School of Management	Australia
35	University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business	United States
36	University of Ottawa Telfer MBA	Canada
37	Maastricht University School of Business and Economics MBA	Netherlands
38	Brandeis University	United States
39	University of California at Berkeley - Haas School of Business	United States
40	Concordia University - John Molson	Canada

SOURCE Corporate Knights Inc.

For further information: please contact: Toby Heaps, CEO, Corporate Knights, Betterworldmba [@] corporateknights.com, 416-203-4674

Related Links

http://www.corporateknights.ca