October 15, 2018. Shanghai – China Europe International Business School’s Global Executive MBA has moved up nine spots to #5 in the Financial Times’ 2018 ranking of the world’s top 100 EMBA programmes. This is the second CEIBS programme the FT has ranked within the top 10 this year. The CEIBS MBA was ranked #8 globally and #1 in Asia in January. This makes CEIBS the first ever Asian school to have two programmes ranked within the FT’s top 10. In the EMBA ranking released today, the CEIBS Global EMBA is also the highest-ranked stand-alone programme. All four programmes ranked above it are collaborations between at least two schools whose combined data are factored into the results. As the rankings have shown, the independently offered CEIBS Global EMBA offers an increasingly international and diverse experience in providing a world class education with continued improvements being made in the quality of the school’s research.  

“These results confirm that we offer a globally competitive programme,” said CEIBS President Li Mingjun in reacting to the news. “We will intensify our efforts to meet the needs of our students, socially responsible business leaders who are shaping the global economy.”

The annual FT ranking of EMBA programmes is well respected and highly anticipated by business schools around the world as it is seen as a valuable benchmark of their performance. It is compiled every year primarily from surveys of classes that graduated three years earlier. The #5 spot is a historic high for the CEIBS Global EMBA and highest ever ranking of all the school’s programmes. The CEIBS Global EMBA was propelled upwards by improvements in nine of the 16 criteria used in the ranking. These include a better performance in areas which measure the programme’s impact on graduates’ careers and its overall diversity. CEIBS Global EMBA continues to improve in the percentage of international students and the opportunities to broaden their world view by doing classes in various locations around the world. Core courses offered at the school’s campuses in Shanghai, Accra and Zurich are complemented by seven global elective modules delivered in seven countries across five continents. The programme is an integral part of the school’s wider globalisation strategy.  

“Our Global EMBA being ranked fifth in the world is definitive proof that the programme’s unique model works,” said CEIBS Vice President and Dean Professor Ding Yuan. “After three years of hard work since our Zurich campus was established in 2015, CEIBS has achieved synergized and stable operations at our five campuses on three continents. In the future, as the school continues to expand to North America and other regions, CEIBS will better meet the needs of business leaders around the world.”

CEIBS Associate Dean of Global EMBA Professor Nikos Tsikriktsis stressed, “The difference between CEIBS Global EMBA and other business schools is that our students are corporate executives selected from different countries in Asia, Europe and Africa and they form a unique class that is truly global. They benefit from the expertise of a strong international faculty team, and classes in major global cities that are shaping the future of business.” He added, “As the global and Chinese economies continue to develop, the world’s business elite face serious challenges. They can only remain competitive if they fully grasp the importance of, and pursue, opportunities for lifelong learning. In response to economic trends and changes in market demand, we have been proactively optimizing the CEIBS Global EMBA curriculum. Our team is committed to providing professional, cutting-edge business knowledge – both theoretical and practical. We are constantly making innovations to our teaching methods, and have extended the pursuit of knowledge beyond the traditional classroom to build a platform for continued learning."     

In addition to its assessment of graduates’ career progress and school diversity, the FT also ranks schools based on research/CSR, areas in which CEIBS has performed well. CEIBS has made CSR a focus at the strategic level of the organisation, with classes on ethics included as part of the curriculum. Meanwhile, there has been a steady increase in the quality and quantity of research produced by the school’s faculty who have extensive expertise in five disciplines. Their research has been steadily gaining international recognition over the years, with their papers published in world renowned academic journals. Between 2014 and 2017, CEIBS faculty had 125 articles published in top journals. For the last three years, on a list of scholars compiled by the world-renowned academic publisher Elsevier, CEIBS faculty have accounted for a third of the most cited researchers from Chinese business schools in the fields of Business, Management and Accounting, an indicator of the strength of the school’s research capabilities.

“We will continue to strengthen our efforts to engage in rigorous research that has practical implications for the business world and our students,” said CEIBS President Li Mingjun. “We fully recognise that academic rigour is an integral part of our efforts to educate the business leaders of tomorrow.”

News about the ranking came days after the Global EMBA Class of 2016 graduated at a ceremony in Dubai, the first time ever students had their graduation ceremony in the UAE. This was yet another indicator of CEIBS Global EMBA’s reputation as a truly global programme, and CEIBS as an international business school with its roots in China.

The next CEIBS Global EMBA class begins in November 2018.

About CEIBS Global EMBA (http://www.ceibs.edu/gemba)  
The CEIBS Global EMBA is a top-ranked, part-time programme that balances China Depth and Global Breadth for high-achieving business leaders who want to take their career and personal development to the next level. With modules available in 11 cities worldwide, a diverse student body from more than 20 countries, and two integrated cohorts running between China, Europe and Africa, CEIBS Global EMBA provides unparalleled opportunities for participants to expand their global network, while plugging into China’s largest business school alumni network.
Contact details http://www.ceibs.edu/gemba/contact    

About CEIBS (www.ceibs.edu)
China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) is among the top international business schools in Asia, where it is the only one to have simultaneously made it to the Financial Times’ top 30 list of MBA, EMBA, and Executive Education programmes.

CEIBS has more than 20,000 alumni from more than 80 countries worldwide, and has provided a broad range of management programmes for more than 150,000 executives both at home and abroad. CEIBS’ faculty team is uniquely equipped to deliver a combination of China Depth and Global Breadth in both teaching and research.

CEIBS has campuses in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Zurich, and Accra.