FT Masters in Finance ranking 2024: methodology and key
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This is the 13th edition of the FT Masters in Finance rankings, which list both pre-experience programmes and post-experience degrees.
The FT defines pre-experience programmes as those aimed at students with little or no professional experience, while post-experience programmes require participants to have worked in finance.
Programmes must meet strict criteria to be eligible. They must be full-time, cohort-based and have a minimum of 25 graduates who completed their programme three years ago. Finally, the schools must be accredited by either AACSB (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) or Equis (EFMD Quality Improvement System). The FT considers those with Swiss Finance Institute accreditation but, from next year, this will no longer be considered.
A total of 88 schools took part in the 2024 edition of these rankings, 86 in the pre-experience ranking and four in the post-experience listing. Two schools, Amsterdam Business School and London Business School, took part in both.
The rankings are based on information collected in two separate surveys. The first is of the business schools and the second of alumni who completed their degrees in 2021.
For a school to be eligible for the rankings, at least 20 per cent of its alumni must respond to the FT survey, with a minimum of 20 completed surveys. However, due to the disruption from Covid-19 in 2021, the FT considered schools with a lower response rate. About 2,583 graduates from pre-experience programmes and 122 alumni from post-experience courses responded to our questionnaire. The two surveys achieved a response rate of 35 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.
There are 18 different categories in the pre-experience ranking, and alumni responses inform eight categories that together constitute 58 per cent of the total weight. The other 10 categories are calculated from the school data and account for the remaining 42 per cent.
The post-experience table has 19 categories, and alumni responses inform eight criteria that make up 57 per cent of the total weight. The remaining 11 categories are taken from the school data and account for 43 per cent. There is a new category called sector diversity rank, which looks at the range of employment sectors candidates have worked in before starting their programme.
In both rankings, the current average salary of alumni has the highest weighting: 16 per cent. Local salaries are converted to US dollars using purchasing power parity rates supplied by the IMF. Salaries are normalised by removing the highest and lowest salaries reported.
The pre-experience ranking measures average salary increase between a job on course completion and today — a timespan of about three years.
The post-experience ranking calculates the average salary difference from before starting the masters to now — a timespan of about four years. Salary increase has a respective weight of 10 per cent and 16 per cent in each ranking. Half of this figure is calculated according to the absolute increase and half according to the relative percentage increase (the figure published in the table).
Data provided by schools are used to measure the diversity of teaching staff, board members and students by gender and citizenship, plus the international reach of the programme. For the gender criteria, schools with a 50:50 (male to female) composition receive the highest score. When calculating international diversity, in addition to schools’ percentage of international students and faculty — the figures published — the FT also considers the proportion of international students from each citizenship.
For the post-experience ranking, however, the calculations of value for money differ in that the total cost of the degree also includes the opportunity cost — the cost of not working during the programme.
For the Masters in Finance pre-experience ranking, all alumni criteria use information collected from 2024 and, if available, 2023 and 2022. Responses from 2024 carry 50 per cent of the total weight and those from 2023 and 2022 each account for 25 per cent, except for salary data which is 50 per cent for each year. If only two years of data are available, the weighting is split 60:40 if data are from 2024 and 2023, or 70:30 if from 2024 and 2022, except for salary data which is 50 per cent for each year.
For the Masters in Finance post-experience, as the table was not produced in 2023, the weighting for two years of data is 70 per cent for 2024 and 30 per cent for 2022, except for salary data which is 50 per cent for each year.
Finally, a relative FT score is calculated for each school. First, Z-scores — formulas that reflect the range of scores between the top and bottom schools — are calculated for each ranking criterion. These scores are then weighted, according to the weights outlined in the key to the ranking, and added together to give a final score. Schools are ranked accordingly, creating the FT Masters in Finance rankings.
Judith Pizer of Pizer-MacMillan and Avner Cohen of AC Data Science acted as the FT’s database consultants.
Key to the rankings
Weights for the ranking criteria are shown below in brackets — (pre-experience) [post-experience] — as a percentage of the overall ranking.
Salary today US$ (16) [16]: average alumni salary three years after completion, US$ purchasing power parity (PPP) equivalent. †
Salary percentage increase (10) [16]: for pre-experience alumni, this is the average difference in their salary between completion and today, but for post-experience alumni, the difference is from before the masters to now. †
Value for money rank (6) [4]: calculated according to alumni salaries today, course length, tuition fees and other costs. †
Career progress rank (6) [5]: calculated according to changes in the level of seniority and the size of the company/organisation alumni are working for between completion and now. †
Aims achieved % (5) [3]: the extent to which alumni considered they fulfilled their study goals. †
Alumni network rank (3) [3]: effectiveness of the alumni network for career opportunities, starting companies, gaining new ideas, recruiting staff and giving event information (such as career-related talks), as rated by alumni. †
Careers service rank (5) [3]: effectiveness of the school careers service for career counselling, personal development, networking events, internship search and recruitment, as rated by alumni. †
Employed at three months % (5) [3]: percentage of the most recent completing class that found employment within three months of finishing their programme. The figure in brackets is the percentage of the class for which the school was able to provide data. Not all schools have employment data for their entire cohort. *
Female faculty % (5) [5]: percentage of full-time female faculty in the business school.
Female students % (5) [5]: percentage of female students on the masters.
Women on board % (1) [1]: percentage of women on the school advisory board.
International faculty % (5) [5]: calculated according to full-time faculty diversity by citizenship and the percentage whose citizenship differs from their country of employment (published figure).
International students % (5) [5]: calculated according to the diversity of current students by citizenship and the percentage whose citizenship differs from their country of study.
International board % (1) [1]: percentage of the board whose citizenship differs from the school’s home country.
International work mobility rank (7) [7]: based on alumni citizenship and the countries where they worked before their masters, on completion and three years after completion. †
International course experience rank (6) [6]: calculated according to whether the most recent completing masters class carried out exchanges and internships, lasting at least a month, in countries other than where the school is based. In-person, virtual and hybrid experiences are included.
Faculty with doctorates % (5) [5]: percentage of full-time faculty with doctoral degrees.
Carbon footprint rank (4) [4]: calculated using the net zero target year for carbon emissions set by the university and/or school, and the existence of a publicly available carbon emissions audit report since 2019. Extra credit is given to schools with an audit report that includes Scope 3 emissions (those not controlled directly by the school but which occur externally in its value chain as a result of its activities).
Sector diversity rank (N/a) [3]: calculated according to the diversity of sectors the students worked in at the time of admission, before the masters (post-experience only).
The following are for information only and are not used in the rankings
Average course length: average completion time of the programme for the latest graduating class.
Internships (%): this column only appears in the online version of the table, which shows the percentage of the most recent completing class that completed an internship, with a company or organisation, as part of the masters programme.
Overall satisfaction: average evaluation by alumni of the masters course, scored out of 10. After alumni answered various questions about their masters experience, including the quality of the school’s careers service, they were asked to rate their overall satisfaction, on a 10-point scale.
For gender-related criteria, schools with 50:50 male/female composition receive the highest possible score.
† Includes data from current and two previous rankings where available.
* Class that completed masters between October 2022 to September 2023.
Criteria
The Masters in Finance (MIF) rankings consist of two tables: pre-experience and post-experience. A ranking will be based on two surveys: one for the business school and one sent to your alumni who completed your nominated finance degree three years ago.
Each school can enter up to two different programmes: the first one in the pre-experience ranking and the second in the post-experience. Please view point 5 for information about the pre-experience MIF and point 6 for the post-experience MIF below.
The ranking of Masters in Finance programmes will not be included in the European business schools ranking (published in December).
Masters in management programmes with a specialisation in finance, or MBAs in finance, are not eligible for this ranking — graduates of your nominated programme(s) must be awarded a masters in finance degree upon graduation. If you have any queries, please contact us at mif@ft.com.
Schools wishing to participate in the ranking must ensure their nominated programme meets all the following requirements:
The business school must be accredited by either Equis or AACSB. The 2024 ranking will be the last year where we may consider schools with Swiss Finance Institute accreditation.
The programme should be full-time and should have graduated its first class at least three years before the survey date.
For the 2024 ranking, we ask for at least 25 alumni to have completed in 2021, the cohort surveyed this year. We also ask for at least 30 alumni to have completed the programme for each year in 2022 and 2023.
In future rankings, we will revert to our usual criterion, which is that we ask for at least 30 full-time graduates to have completed the programme, per year, three years ago and in each subsequent year.
Your programme must be a generalist programme in finance. We will not consider specialised programmes (such as a masters in trading).
The pre-experience ranking is directed at students with very little or no prior work experience only.
The post-experience ranking is directed at students with about three years of relevant work experience in finance.
The business school must have a minimum of 20 full-time permanent faculty.
Students must matriculate and graduate in cohort(s).
The MIF programme can be delivered in several languages but it must be fully available in English. Graduates need to complete the survey in English.
We need a response rate of at least 20 per cent from alumni with a minimum of 20 completed surveys from any school wishing to be considered for the ranking. For example, a class size of 100 graduates will require 20 completed surveys and a class size of 200 alumni will require 40 completed surveys. This response rate is based on the total size of the cohort we are surveying, not the number of graduate emails you can supply, as we are aware that some alumni will opt out of the survey.
Meeting these criteria does not guarantee automatic participation in the ranking. The final decision rests with the Financial Times.
Please note, the table is finalised about eight weeks before the publication date. It is too late for schools to withdraw from the ranking after the eight-week mark.
Email mif@ft.com by the start of January if you have questions or wish to take part as the ranking process starts in early February. By this time, the onus is on schools to get in contact with us if they wish to take part in the ranking, as we are unable to email every school to check if they wish to be considered.
Rankings: https://rankings.ft.com/home/masters-in-finance
Report: https://www.ft.com/business-education/financial-training
Methodology: https://www.ft.com/mif-method
Timings
Invitation to participate: February
Schools to confirm participation: February
Survey open: March
Survey close: April
Data checks with schools: April — June
Publication: June
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