Spanish business school Iese has topped the Financial Times 2015 combined ranking of executive short courses, regaining the position it last held in 2012. The school ousted HEC Paris, which dropped to second place in the combined table.
Iese’s particular achievement was coming top of the ranking for customised programmes — those aimed at corporate customers. The school is only the fifth to top the customised ranking. It puts an end to 12 years of domination by Duke Corporate Education. Before that, the last winner was New York’s Columbia Business School in 2002. Duke drops to third overall after falling more than 10 places in five criteria, including “follow-up”, in which it dropped 27 places to 40th.
The Financial Times executive education rankings, now in their 17th year, rate the best 75 open programmes and the best 85 customised programmes worldwide. Executive education offers non-degree programmes, either tailor-made for corporate customers (customised) or available to all working managers (open). The rankings are based on participants’ and clients’ satisfaction, the diversity of participants and faculty, and the schools’ international exposure.