FT Ranks Michigan Ross No. 1 in North America for Executive Education, Only American School in Global Top 10
The Ross School of Business continues to offer innovative and high-impact executive education programs around the world, and the school’s latest efforts have again secured its global Top 10 status in the 2022 Financial Times Executive Education rankings.
Michigan Ross Executive Education earned the top rank in North America — and the No. 8 spot globally — for its combined rating of open enrollment and custom programs for corporate clients, and was the only school in the nation to place in the top 50 schools. Although not used in the rankings, Ross also achieved the highest overall satisfaction score, which is based on evaluations by participants about their course experience, for its custom programs, and top score for U.S.-based open enrollment programs.
In the Financial Times’ open enrollment programs rankings, Michigan Ross placed No. 2 in the United States and No. 8 globally. The school also was rated No. 1 for growth and No. 4 for faculty in the global ranking of open enrollment programs.
For its custom programs, Michigan Ross ranked third in the U.S. and 14th globally. Ross also earned Top 5 placements globally in the custom program rankings for faculty (No. 2), preparation (No. 3), and program design (No. 4.).
“We are thrilled to be named among the top schools in the Financial Times executive education rankings again this year for our custom and open programs, and even more excited to receive such strong overall satisfaction scores,” said Melanie Weaver Barnett, chief executive education officer at Michigan Ross. “In addition, earning the No. 1 ranking for growth speaks to how well Michigan Ross has been able to return from the pandemic, and the high rankings for our faculty reflect the school’s commitment to ensuring our executive education participants have access to our world-class faculty.”
Michigan Ross Executive Education participant highlighted by the FT
Along with releasing the rankings, the Financial Times also published a story highlighting what executive education participants learned from their programs. William Goin, director of foreign military sales at General Dynamics Land Systems, who participated in the Positive Leader program at Michigan Ross, among others, was featured in the story.
Goin was asked what surprised him most about the program at Michigan Ross. He said:
“It’s very personal. Often, people think about leadership as being impact on others, but much of the curriculum was to look at yourself first. Take an inventory of where and who you are. Are you ready to learn? Do you have a growth mindset? If you don’t, then you may have just wasted your money. Are you prepared to change? So I think that was the thing that surprised me — that it was inward-facing to start with. And from that, you’re able to generate change. You’re more open to taking the lessons in and really applying them.”
The most important thing that the course taught me is: To be a leader, you must first destroy your ego. We have got to be willing to look at what we’re doing, be prepared to be challenged and then accept those things, and change and move.
Continued growth of digital and in-person executive education programs
Earlier this year, Michigan Ross Executive Education celebrated the success of its Ascending to the C-Suite: From Theory to Practice program in increasing and preparing for more diversity in today’s boardrooms by empowering women to ascend into top executive positions. The program, which was created in partnership with Inforum, equips senior-level women leaders with the key business and leadership skills needed by C-suite executives.
In May 2021, Michigan Ross launched a new Accelerated Management Development Certificate Program, which is the school’s first online executive education offering that allows participants to earn a certificate of merit. Designed to be flexible, personalized, and actionable, the six-month program provides a comprehensive online learning experience for high-potential, mid-career business professionals looking to move into more senior leadership positions, along with those who want to learn or refresh their business acumen.
