How do company executives see the quality of business schools around the world?
The World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey gives us an answer.
Each year more than 13,000 business leaders rate the quality of business schools on a scale of 1 (worst) to 7 (best). The average for 146 countries falls neatly in the middle of the range, at 4.2. The chart shows regional variations.
Has the perceived quality of business schools changed over the past few years? The world average score has remained remarkably stable between 2007 and 2014, but masks considerable variations. Scores improved remarkably in Portugal, China and Italy, and declined in India.
Let us focus on scores for Sub-Saharan Africa. The second chart shows averages for Sub-Saharan Africa (for all countries and for the ten most significant economies).
Both trends are positive, which is consistent with what we know from GBSN’s work on the continent. A decade ago, only a handful of good-quality business schools existed outside South Africa. Today, thanks largely to unstinting efforts by private sector pioneers of business education, an increasing number of quality business schools have grown in quite a number of African countries. In Zambia, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Namibia, Kenya and Ghana, scores improved by 20 to 50 percent; progress has also been achieved in Cote d’Ivoire and Uganda, while ratings for South Africa and Nigeria don’t show much change over time. I like to think that GBSN has contributed somewhat to these improvements.
Guy Pfeffermann is the Founder & CEO of the Global Business School Network