Singapore, 17 October 2016 (Monday) – The Singapore Management University (SMU) Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) has been ranked 32^nd globally in the Financial Times (FT) Executive MBA Ranking 2016, up four places from 36^th position last year. It has also risen to 9^th place among Asian business schools ranked, compared to 10^th in 2015.

This is the second time that LKCSB made the top 100, in only its second year of qualifying for the ranking, since its Executive MBA (EMBA) programme was set up five years ago.

The findings of the FT Executive MBA Ranking 2016 reveal that SMU’s EMBA graduates are highly paid in Singapore, Asia and the world. Commanding a salary of around US$311,500, they earn the 6^th highest salary¹ in the world, and are the highest paid compared to those from other Singaporean institutions. They are also among the better paid in Asia. On top of this, they are ranked highly for pre-EMBA work experiences² at 5^th place globally.  

Professor Gerard George, Dean of SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business, and Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said, “Our progressive rise in the rankings is a testament of our strategy to become the best Asian business school. They align strongly with SMU’s vision of providing transformative education and producing global leaders with an Asian perspective. Many of our Business School’s programmes have been affirmed by Financial Times as among the best in the world, which is sound endorsement of our world-class teaching, excellent student cohort, and alumni success.

“The high salaries of SMU EMBA graduates also validate their value in the market, and signal the programme’s strong reputation and the leadership abilities of our graduates. The exposure to a stimulating cohort with experience across industries and geographies further enhances the learning journey. It is a great group to be a part of!”

Taught interactively in a dynamic city campus in Singapore with study stints in China, India and the USA, the SMU EMBA offers a global education that prepares senior executives for top leadership roles in Asia.

In a relatively short span of five years, the programme has been successful in attracting senior leaders from a wide variety of industries across Asia, Europe, USA and the Middle East, with more than 95 per cent of the class comprising senior executives of c-suite director levels and above. They have an average of over 18 years of working experience. 

The SMU EMBA, which was first introduced in 2011, is an innovative programme designed to provide the modern leader with both Asian and global business perspectives. Delivered in a combination of intense one to two week-long sessions and concentrated three-day weekends, the 12-month  modular programme offers overseas study segments held in renowned partner universities, namely the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University in China,  the Indian School of Business in India, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in the US. This offers participants the unique opportunity to learn from four world-class institutions. While in the US, SMU EMBA students will also be invited to attend an additional three-day seminar at the Washington Campus to understand how public policies in the US affect businesses operating in Asia.

[Photos: SMU EMBA 2012-13 class at Lenovo (left) and at Peking University (right)]

Notably, its curriculum has been designed in consultation with more than 100 corporate leaders from Asia, resulting in first-of-its-kind or customised courses such as “Agile and Disruptive Strategy”, “Network and Alliance Building” etc. Professors with vast international research and consultancy experiences teach in small-size classes comprising a very senior profile of students who are industry leaders from diverse backgrounds, to offer participants an enriching experience. The programme, which received its sixth cohort in May 2016, has graduated about 160 graduates from 21 countries in the past five years.

This is FT’s 16^th annual ranking of EMBA degrees. EMBA programmes must meet strict criteria in order to be considered for the ranking – schools must be accredited by either the American AACSB or the European EQUIS accreditation bodies, and the programmes must have run for at least four consecutive years. This year, a record 137 programmes took part in the ranking process, up from 129 the previous year.

[Photo: SMU EMBA Academic Director Assoc Prof Lieven Demeester with students.]

In June this year, SMU LKCSB emerged third in the world in the Financial Times (FT) Masters in Finance Post-experience Ranking 2016 for its Master of Science in Wealth Management (MWM) programme. The School remains the only institution in Asia and in Singapore to make it to the top five positions globally, placed just after University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School and London Business School. LKCSB also ranked 4^th among Asian business schools and 42^nd in the world in the FT Masters in Finance Pre-experience Ranking 2016 for its Master of Science in Applied Finance (MAF) programme. It is also the only Singaporean institution to be ranked. This was the second time that LKCSB was featured in both the Pre- and Post-experience rankings – last year, it was the first school to ever feature in both rankings and was the highest-positioned new entrant.

For full results and more details, please refer to the following:

• FT EMBA Rankings 2016: http://rankings.ft.com/exportranking/executive-mba-ranking-2016/pdf
• FT EMBA Rankings 2016 Methodology: https://www.ft.com/content/1ce8a26a-817f-11e6-8e50-8ec15fb462f4