Top Business Schools in 2019

Discover the top business and management schools based on the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020.

Included in the QS World University Rankings by Subject is a ranking of the world’s top universities for business and management, and this year’s has been extended to feature over 500 prestigious institutions in this field.

Read on for an overview of the top universities for business and management in each world region, as well as a look at the top 10, or click here to view the full interactive table.

Of the more than 500 institutions in the business school ranking, over 20 percent (102) of them are located in the US. Outside of the top 10 above, there are 10 more US business schools in the global top 50 for this subject, including University of California, Berkeley (UCB) (ranked 12^th), Northwestern University (joint 13^th), the University of Chicago (17^th) and Columbia University (18^th).

18 more of the world’s top universities for business can be found in Canada, with the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia both continuing to claim spots in the global top 50, in 40^th and 46^th places respectively. Three more Canadian universities are featured in the 51-100 range, including McGill University.

Europe also has no shortage of prestigious business schools to choose from, with the UK home to an impressive 58 entrants.

Spain and Germany are the next best-represented European locations, with 19 top universities for business each – Spain has two entrants in the top 50, Universitat Ramon Llull (ranked 25^th) and the University of Navarra (31^st), while Germany’s highest ranked schools are Universität Mannheim (47^th) and the Technical University of Munich (51-100).

France is home to 12 of the world’s top universities for business, including three in the top 50. As well as INSEAD in second place, these are HEC Paris School of Management (11^th) and ESSEC Business School, which climbed from 51-100 to 37^th place.

Also with 12 entrants is Italy, which also claims one of the top 10 spots with Bocconi University in joint eighth, while Politecnico di Milano continues to rank 51-100.

The Netherlands has 11 top business schools in the ranking, with Erasmus University Rotterdam up nine places to rank 21^st, while Tilburg University climbed from 101-150 to 51-100 this year.

Ireland, Russia and Switzerland each have seven entrants in the business school ranking – of these, Switzerland’s University of St.Gallen (HSG) is the highest ranked (up 11 places this year to rank 34^th), while Ireland’s University College Dublin (UCD) and Russia’s National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University) both come in the 101-150 range, the latter climbing from 151-200. 

Belgium and Sweden have six top universities for business each, including one each in the 51-100 range: KU Leuven and Stockholm School of Economics.

Meanwhile Denmark, Austria and Portugal each have top business schools,  including Denmark’s Copenhagen Business School in 15^th place, while WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) climbed from 51-100 to 38^th place in the 2019 ranking.

Finland, Norway and Greece each claim four representatives in the business school ranking, with Finland’s Aalto University and Norway’s BI Norwegian Business School both in the top 100, while Greece’s Athens University of Economics and Business went up from 151-200 to rank in the top 150.

Finally, Lithuania and Poland have three entrants each, Estonia has two, and Romania and Slovenia are new to the ranking this year with one entrant each. Of these locations, Lithuania is home to the highest ranked business school, with Vilnius Gediminas Technical University climbing from 201-250 to 101-150 this year.