The QS Business Master's Rankings highlight the best graduate masters programmes across the world. Data was collected using three surveys; the QS Global Employer Survey, the QS Global Academic Survey and a survey completed by the business schools themselves. The survey completed by schools covered quantitative indicators such as the salary of graduates, class profile and other institutional data. 

To be included in the QS Business Master's Rankings, the programme must be taught mainly on-campus (i.e. not distance-learning), be taught full-time (or be full-time equivalent) and have an average class size of at least 15 students. All schools must be accredited by either AACSB, AMBA, EFMD (EQUIS). A total of 13 criteria form the basis of five key indicators that programs were ranked on:

EMPLOYABILITY – 35% (30% - Finance/Business Analytics)

QS Global Employer Survey

The backbone of the rankings is the QS Global Employer Survey, which asks employers to select the schools that they prefer to hire from. Employers across all sectors and industries take part in the survey, and include Facebook, Google, Uber, Wells Fargo, Bank of America etc. The survey helps QS have an accurate impression of the reputation of a school compared to its peers among relevant employers who are hiring business school graduates.

Employment Rate 

The total score for this indicator also considers the employment rate for students, six months post-graduation, based on MBACSEA standards. 

ALUMNI OUTCOMES – 15% (20% Finance/Business Analytics)

Alumni Outcomes 

The Alumni Outcomes Index looks at the schools associated with over 50,000 CEOs, executives and board members at the biggest companies in the world including Apple, Amazon, UBS, IBM, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, ExxonMobil, AT&T, PepsiCo. Schools do not directly provide QS information on their alumni. QS collects it from publicly available sources and validates. Schools can suggest to the QS Intelligence Unit possible lists of successful companies/alumni in order to enhance the quality of the survey.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT (20%)

A number of data points was used to determine return on investment, which can often be one of the hardest metrics to accurately predict with many permutations and possibilities.

10 Year ROI (15%)

QS looks at a 10-year return on investment, mapping average post-graduation, taking into account forgone salary as well as tuition and cost of living (using Mercer Quality of City Living Ranking). The percentage of graduates accepting employment within six months of finishing their studiem i salso taken into account.

Payback Month (5%)

QS looks at the time it takes to pay back the cost.  The shorter the payback month the better score the school receives.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP (15%)

QS Academic Reputation  (10%)

This metric gives us an accurate impression of the reputation of a programme and is based on university and business school nominations of academics from around the world. Academics name the institutions which they believe are the strongest in their subject area. The survey has grown to become the world’s largest surveys of academic opinion, and, in terms of size and scope, is an unparalleled means of measuring sentiment in the academic community. 

Research Impact (2.5%)

Elsevier’s Scopus database was used to assess the research intensity of schools. QS look at the period between 2014-2019 and analyze thousands of papers.

Percentage of faculty with PhD (2.5%)

The percentage of the faculty within the Business School with a doctoral degree.

CLASS & FACULTY DIVERSITY (10%)

To give a clear representation of diversity within a programme QS looked at the percentage of female students and faculty members, as well as at the percentage of international faculty overall at the business school, and the international mix of students on the program.