Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is three fold:
- To help our community members and visitors to the Ivy Exec website 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;
- To serve as a third-party source of data that can help EMBA prospects validate their tuition investment decision should they decide to apply to one of the ranked programs represented in the rankings; and
- To help Ivy Exec’s education partners attract top-caliber students and gain insights that will help them continue to refine their Executive MBA value propositions;
Study Approach
The study was conducted in two parts.
- The first part identified the set of top programs to be evaluated. Sources used included Ivy Exec’s 2019 list of Top EMBA Programs, as well as other widely published rankings of EMBA programs, and programs attended by the Ivy Exec professional community.
- The second part asked the community to evaluate approximately 300 different Executive MBA programs, answering 18 scoring questions related to Career Advancement, Curriculum, Prestige, the Global Experience, and Life Balance. These comparative criteria were originally identified for the 2019 study by the Ivy Exec members.
The 2020 survey was conducted in a regionalized manner. Each participant from Asia/Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East/Africa, and the US regions was asked to share their perceptions on five EMBA programs from their region, choosing the five programs from a pre-defined list of between 15 and 35 programs based in their region. The survey participants compared their five chosen programs, answering questions based on the comparative criteria, using a five-point scale.
Scoring Methodology Description
The scoring methodology is based on two data sets – the Survey Results and a proprietary Market Index. The proprietary Market Index calculation was based on a compilation of Executive MBA programs’ prior rankings published in 2019 by major publications.
The results from these two data sets were combined in a weighted calculation to derive a final score. The rankings were based on the final score for each program. 2020 rankings have been calculated at both the regional and the global levels.
Summary of Data Sources
The data presented in the actual rankings reflects the views and opinions of 5,957 survey participants. The study excluded participants with less than 7 years of work experience and entry-level titles. 75% of the respondent pool had an MBA/EMBA and 25% did not yet have an MBA/EMBA.
Beyond rankings data that reflects Ivy Exec members' perceptions of the ranked programs, all other program data provided on individual program pages was either sourced directly from the administration of the programs when possible, or from publicly available information, including: program websites, program brochures and other widely published sources (e.g., the ROI statistic on program pages is from Financial Times Global Executive MBA Ranking 2019, if an alternative data point was not provided by the ranked program.) Ivy Exec has made its best effort to accurately represent specific program information on the individual program pages, using the sources cited herein.