London and Milan top twin FT executive education rankings

{"text":[[{"start":8.15,"text":"London Business School and Milan’s SDA Bocconi School of Management lead the twin 2026 FT executive education rankings, at a time of rapid disruption in demand from managers and employers for training and development. "}],[{"start":22.5,"text":"LBS — followed by HEC Paris and Iese Business School in Barcelona — came top among 90 ranked providers of open-enrolment programmes: short, non-degree courses accessible to a broad range of executives and professionals. The London school was assessed as best in categories including preparation, course design, teaching and faculty."}],[{"start":47.1,"text":"Among the 100 FT ranked custom programmes, which are tailored to the needs of specific clients, SDA Bocconi came top for the first time. LBS was in second place, ahead of IMD — International Institute for Management Development, in Switzerland."}],[{"start":63.5,"text":"Across the range of all custom and open programmes ranked by the FT, AI has been the fastest rising topic, and now features in three-quarters, only just behind leadership and finance. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":74.85,"text":"A number of institutions reported growth in demand for geopolitics and broad business sustainability. Several stressed that clients were increasingly demanding in seeking value for money for custom courses firmly aligned to their own priorities, with some employers requiring staff to pay for open programmes."}],[{"start":93.35,"text":"The conflict in the Middle East this year has significantly slowed expansion of programmes delivered in the region, which had until recently attracted sharp growth, notably in Saudi Arabia. Some courses have been deferred and others taught online, or attendees shifted to campuses outside the region."}],[{"start":111.19999999999999,"text":"Sergei Guriev, dean of LBS, which in its last financial year reported £69mn in executive education revenues, expects fresh growth in 2026. “The trend is great. Even with the Gulf conflict, we will grow substantially,” he says. “It’s very hard to separate work from learning since everything is changing so fast. There is no routine work any more.”"}],[{"start":133.85,"text":"Guriev stresses that “consulting and teaching are becoming really intertwined”, with the development of programmes it now offers jointly with consultancies and digital companies."}],[{"start":143.45,"text":"Stefano Caselli, dean of Bocconi, reports strong interest in leadership training, as well as geopolitics, applied AI and sustainable corporate performance. He highlights fresh interest in longer custom programmes and tailor-made master’s degrees for corporate clients including Saudi Aramco and Italian bank UniCredit."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":163.25,"text":"“There is a growing trend towards custom programmes, but you have to have the capability to provide faculty and talent,” Caselli says. “It requires more investment in energy and the commitment of the top people in the business school.”"}],[{"start":176.15,"text":"He adds that much of the demand for Bocconi’s open programmes was driven by its research, with the creation of “laboratories” and observatories, including one focused on corporate governance and another on AI and decision-making."}],[{"start":191.25,"text":"To be ranked by the FT, business schools must be accredited with either the US AACSB or the Europe-based Equis bodies and have revenues of at least $1mn in 2025 from either custom or open-enrolment programmes, depending on the ranking. However, most of the programme providers reported annual revenues of less than $5mn, with just a handful generating more than $20mn. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":217.7,"text":"A separate survey by Unicon, an alliance of executive education providers, suggested that 100 leading business schools around the world generate $900mn in annual revenues between them from such courses. Unicon extrapolated growth over the next decade of 37 per cent globally, and 47 per cent in the US."}],[{"start":239.29999999999998,"text":"Melanie Weaver Barnett, Unicon’s executive director, stresses shifts in the formats. “There has been a reconfiguration since Covid-19, so employers expect to get online anything that can be effectively delivered that way, but they definitely also want in-person experiences too, for more complex work around collaboration, innovation and building relationships.”"}],[{"start":265.2,"text":"“Open-enrolment programmes for AI seem to be very popular, and in general leadership development,” she adds. “But given the geopolitical challenges around the world, some companies are focusing on their own region and there is downward pressure on almost every school operating internationally. The Middle East is really curtailed.”"}],[{"start":283.7,"text":"Daniel Chadwick, founder of the education consultancy Nexed Insight, which has surveyed 20 leading business schools, says AI and strategy were among the most frequently taught topics, but few were yet offering specific courses on agentic AI. “The schools moving earliest on agentic are the expected market leaders.”"}],[{"start":303.15,"text":"In the FT ranking, Indian School of Business, Lagos Business School and Trinity College Dublin Business School scored highest on a combined measure of revenue growth and repeat business for open-enrolment programmes. Bologna Business School, Essca School of Management in France and Lagos Business School came top in the same metric for custom programmes."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":325,"text":"Open-enrolment courses assessed by the FT are dominated by participants — both male and female — aged in their forties, with as many aged over 55 as those aged 30-35 taking part. The share of women on open courses marginally exceeds men until their late forties, after which men dominate."}],[{"start":352.8,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779086090_1047.mp3"}