Griffith University: Griffith MBA ranks number one for second consecutive year
Griffith Business School’s MBA program has achieved top ranking in the Corporate Knights 19th annual Better World MBA Ranking, for the second year in a row.
Griffith earned first place in the prestigious ranking due to an increase in core courses and faculty research aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and recognised improvements in gender and racial diversity among its faculty.
It is the only Australian MBA program to be ranked within the top 10 in the world and the only Queensland program in the top 40.
Griffith MBA Director Associate Professor Stephanie Schleimer
MBA Director Associate Professor Stephanie Schleimer said Griffith’s MBA program clearly struck a chord with both students and its peers.
“Achieving the number one ranking in the world two years in a row shows the value of a business education that is focused on sustainability and responsibility,” she said.
“We have done a lot of work in the last few years to turn Griffith Business School’s MBA program, traditionally the world’s most corporate degree, into a transformational journey centring on student empowerment to create a better future.
“To know that our efforts have been recognised as the top program out of 147 MBAs evaluated globally is a wonderful achievement.”
To determine the ranking, Corporate Knights examined MBA’s, including the 2021 Financial Times 100 Global MBA programs, every program that made the 2020 Top 40 in the Corporate Knights Better World MBA Ranking, and select MBA programs accredited by AMBA, AACSB or EQUIS, and/or signatories of the Principles for Responsible Management Education.
In the second week of COP26, where 25,000 people have gathered in Glasgow, including world leaders, negotiators and journalists, Associate Professor Schleimer said business should be leading the charge on sustainability.
“We’ve moved from TSR, total shareholder return, to CSR, corporate social responsibility, and now we’ve arrived at TSI or total societal impact,” she said.
“An organisation’s responsibilities and financial returns are closely entwined with the environment.
“Our MBA program delivers a ripple effect where our students, already business leaders but also the future change-makers of their sectors, become empowered with the skillsets to make much-needed and genuine change.
“It is no longer enough just to learn the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of corporate sustainability but being proactive about sustainability matters.”
Griffith Business School’s MBA program was ranked fifth in the Corporate Knights rankings in 2019 before securing top spot for the first time in 2020.
Programs are evaluated across key performance indicators including core course integration of sustainability, research publications per faculty member on sustainability topics in calendar year 2020, percent of total faculty publications in 2020 on sustainability topics, number of citations per faculty for those publications, sustainability-focused research institutes and centres, faculty gender diversity and faculty racial diversity.
“Every MBA program in the world should be instilling holistic purpose in leaders, ensuring they have the skills, tools and values to build a more inclusive, healthier economy that’s beneficial to society and in harmony with the natural world, and the Better World business schools are leading the way,” Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights said.