Columbia Business School Ranked Number One in Masters in Marketing Rankings

Columbia Business School has earned the honor of being the first ever institution to be ranked as the best in the world for marketing in the QS Business Masters Rankings 2019.

Released today for the first time ever, the QS Business Masters Rankings: Masters in Marketing Rankings 2019 feature 70 of the best master's in marketing programs from around the world.

This year's number one, Columbia, achieved a near-perfect score in the alumni outcomes ranking indicator. The New York City-based school beat off stiff competition from Imperial College Business School, which ranked second, and HEC Paris which is third.

Of the 70 schools to be included this year, European institutions dominate (despite not topping) the table, with almost double the number of programs (44) featured than the United States (21).

Three schools from Latin America are featured in the rankings: CENTRUM Catolica Business School, EAFIT, and ESAN. All three of these schools are ranked 51+ in the table, as are the two Canadian schools included: Concordia University and HEC Montreal.

Dr Omar Merlo, Director of the MSc Strategic Marketing program at Imperial College Business School emphasizes why students should consider a master’s in marketing in today’s business world:

“In recent years marketing has been gaining influence within organisations, not necessarily just as a department, but as a set of critical activities and processes spread across a company. The realisation that sustainable financial performance increasingly depends on creating enduring customer value has made marketing more crucial, not just tactically, but also in charting a company’s strategic direction.

“This is particularly true in an increasingly globalised, digital world. Marketing is thus a very exciting field to be in at the moment: strong skills and competencies in strategic market management are increasingly in high demand. A degree in marketing can equip students with a set of very valuable and marketable skills, which can lead to stimulating, diverse and rewarding career paths in a very wide range of industries and types of organisations.”

To be included in the Masters in Marketing Rankings 2019, programs had to be taught mainly on-campus (i.e. not distance learning), have had at least one graduated class, and a class size of at least 10 students.

Eligible programs were then ranked on five key ranking indicators:

• Employability (30 percent)
• Alumni Outcomes (20 percent)
• Value for Money (20 percent)
• Thought Leadership (20 percent)
• Class & Faculty Diversity (10 percent)

You can find out more about the methodology used to produce the rankings here.

In terms of the class profile of the master's in marketing programs included on the table, the average age of students is 24 years, while they entered programs with an average of two years’ work experience. Around 69 percent of students on the master’s in marketing programs are female, by far the highest proportion of any MBA or business masters program ranked by us this year, with a staggering 30 percent more female students than the typical MBA program.

In addition to this ranking, the top master's programs in business analytics, finance and management have also been revealed, while the QS Global MBA Rankings 2019 reveals the best full-time MBA programs around the world.