The Jindal School moved up eight spots overall and into the top 40 U.S. schools listed in 2021 full-time global MBA rankings from Financial Times.

Released Feb. 8, the FT standings rate the top 100 full-time MBA programs around the world. The Jindal School advanced to No. 17 among U.S. public university programs, No. 40 among all U.S. university programs and No. 73 overall.

Among ranked U.S. public schools, the Jindal School first cracked the top 20 last year, coming in at No. 18. JSOM has moved up 20 places in the overall standings since it first appeared in Financial Times rankings in 2017.

JSOM has been steadily moving up since it began participating in the rankings. “We expect that,” said Dr. Hasan Pirkul, Caruth Chair and Jindal School dean, “because we work to get better every year. But a jump of eight places in one year is very gratifying, especially when you consider all the challenges the pandemic has brought our way.”

Research Reinforced

“I have to point out that we also are excited by our research ranking this year.” said JSOM Senior Associate Dean and Dean of Graduate Programs Monica Powell.

The Jindal School advanced 12 places in the research ranking, moving from the No. 17 spot last year to No. 5. That position was determined by the number of scholarly articles full-time faculty members published in 50 selected academic and practitioner journals between January 2018 and July 2020. Then the total was weighted, relative to each school’s faculty size.

“The research ranking validates the findings of our own UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings™,” Powell said. There (see Jindal School Moves to No. 3 in UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings™), the Jindal School stands at No. 3, based on a database that tracks publications in 24 leading scholarly business journals.

Methodology

The Financial Times rankings were determined using 20 weighted categories, including research, alumni answers, international aspect of programs, the number of women faculty, students and advisory board members, the number of faculty with doctorates and corporate social responsibility.

Only programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB) or EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) were eligible to participate. (The Jindal School has AACSB accreditation). In all, 143 colleges and universities took part.