The Fuqua School of Business jumped five spots to number one in Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s most recent ranking of best MBA programs.
The highest Fuqua ranked before this year in Bloomberg’s biennial MBA rankings was number five in 2000. The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School trails Duke at number two, followed by University of Chicago's Booth School, the MBA program that had previously occupied the number one spot.
“The main place where Duke saw a lot of improvement was on our survey of employers,” said Francesca Levy, editor of Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s Business Schools vertical.
Bloomberg asked employers—specifically those that hire a lot of MBA graduates—what qualities are most important to them in business school graduates, Levy said. Employers then rank business schools on well they did in those categories. These evaluations account for 45 percent of the overall rankings.
“Duke jumped a lot on those measures because not only were employers really happy with the students Duke was producing, but they were the employers that hired a lot of MBAs and had a lot of weight in the survey,” Levy said. “Fuqua turns out to be a really good place to go if you want access to the kind of employers that are hiring a lot of MBAs and who tend to be really happy with students Duke is producing.”
One of the areas Duke did well on was collaboration, Levy said.
“We want to bring people into our programs and put them out into the workforce who have the ability to collaborate in very diverse settings,” said William Boulding, dean and J.B. Fuqua Professor of Business Administration at Fuqua.
Fuqua student Javier Valenzuela wrote in an email Wednesday that the “team Fuqua spirit”—a mentality that all Fuqua students share, regardless of their diverse backgrounds—is the main reason for the school’s high ranking.
“Students, alumni and faculty are always there to support you—to prepare you for an interview, to build a community or to learn something,” Valenzuela wrote.
Fuqua has always placed a lot of emphasis on skills such as collaboration and innovation in the office, Boulding said. He added, however, that the ranking shift does not signify a change in the program.
“I think that what's changed is that the world has shifted a little bit," Boulding said. "They’ve discovered that students who do have the ability to lead effectively in teams and drive innovation within companies bring a real sense of purpose and make a difference for their companies. We’ve kind of stayed the same and the world has shifted in our direction.”
With this year’s BusinessWeek ranking, Fuqua administrators hope to see an increase in the applicant pool.
“I hope that the number one ranking generates extra publicity and people go ‘Wow, I’d like to be a part of that kind of school,'" Boulding said.
He noted, however, that he doesn't want to take anything for granted.
"I don’t think we can afford to have an ounce of complacency that goes along with this ranking," Boulding said, adding that Fuqua administrators and professors will continue to work to keep Fuqua on top in the coming years.
Valenzuela wrote that Fuqua professors are constantly expanding the boundaries of their fields and pushing students to give their “110 percent.”
“I’m really happy for all the people in our community who worked so hard over an extended period of time to draw this result. That's the part that feels best. There is some external validation for a lot of really hard and excellent work that has been put in by all members of our community," Boulding said. “Fuqua was chartered in 1969, so in some sense, this is a 45-year old project in the making, and it’s really fun to see this outcome."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.