WSJ's methodology can be found here:
https://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 00244.htmlQuote:
School eligibility criteria included accreditation by AACSB and Equis, the main business-school accrediting bodies in the U.S. and Europe; a minimum of four previous graduating classes; an international student body; and enrollment of 12 students or more in the class graduating before Sept. 15, 2009. Additionally, a school's students had to have an average of at least three years' work experience. Some 65 schools made the cut, and 13 of those schools declined to participate, most citing inadequate contacts with alumni or inadequate staffing to process our requests for contacts. Those schools were: University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, University of Georgia (Terry), HEC School of Management, Henley Business School, Imperial College of Business, Macquarie Graduate School of Management, University of Notre Dame (Mendoza), University of Ottawa, Queens University, University of Rotterdam (Erasmus), University of Southern California (Marshall) and University of Strathclyde.
We reached students and alumni via email addresses provided by the schools. Several schools that initially participated in the student survey portion of the ranking later declined to participate in the alumni survey, and we were therefore unable to rank them. Those schools were: Chapman University, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, and Wilfrid Laurier University.
The student survey included 53 questions—13 on program quality, 20 on applicable skills and 20 on leadership and management skills—that were used in the student ranking. It was sent to 3,436 students at 48 accelerated M.B.A. programs in nine countries starting in March. The survey was completed by 1,361 students, a response rate of 40%
The alumni survey included 48 questions—11 on the specific impact the program has had on a career, 17 on the usefulness of the skills taught and overall quality of the program, and 20 on the usefulness of leadership and management skills taught. In all, 2,903 alumni received the survey, and 735 completed it, for a response rate of 25%. Alumni were surveyed beginning in May.
Schools with fewer than 10 responses and less than a 20% response rate on either survey weren't eligible for ranking; 28 schools were thus eliminated: Amsterdam Business School, Ashridge Business School, Case Western Reserve University (Weatherhead), Cass Business School, CIIM, University of Cincinnati, Cleveland State University, University College Dublin (Smurfit), EDHEC, EM Lyon, ESC Rouen Business School, University of Florida (Hough), Florida International University, George Washington University, University of Glasgow, Hult University, Lancaster Business School, Mannheim Business School, University of Miami (Florida), Nanyang University, University of New Hampshire (Whittemore), Pepperdine University (Graziadio), University of Pittsburgh (Katz), Reims Management School, University of Rhode Island, Temple University (Fox), Thunderbird School of Global Management, and Western Washington University. That left 20 schools eligible for the final ranking.
Northwestern had the highest percentage of student respondents, at nearly 85%. Birmingham had the lowest response rate of schools ultimately eligible for ranking, at 20%. Scores for each question were calculated and standardized to create a mean score for each school. That score makes up the student component of the final ranking.
Miami University in Ohio had the highest percentage of alumni respondents, at nearly 67%. IE Business School had the lowest percentage of respondents of schools ultimately eligible for ranking, at 24%. Scores for each question were calculated and standardized to create a mean score for each school. That score makes up the alumni component of the final ranking.
To calculate the final ranking, the student and alumni scores were added up, with the student scores given a weight of 60% and the alumni scores given a weight of 40%.
Five schools were eligible for ranking but scored significantly lower than the 15 other eligible schools and therefore were not included in the final ranking. Those schools were: University of Birmingham (U.K.), University of Colorado-Denver, St. Louis University, SDA Bocconi, and Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School.
Anyway, it's nice to see my school show up for the first time in an internationally-recognized ranking list.