Top 10 universities for business degrees 2026

Insights into the top 10 universities in the world for business degrees 2026

Explore the full table for best universities for business here. 

Times Higher Education’s 2026 World University Rankings by Subject for business includes 1,067 universities in 91 countries and territories. 

The majority of the top 20 universities in the business ranking are US colleges, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the top.

Although the US dominates the ranking, universities in the UK and across Asia do particularly well.

The UK has three universities among the top 20, which also includes three Asian institutions and one from Switzerland. 

Canadian, Dutch and Australian schools also perform well for business and economics degrees.

The ranking uses the same methodology as the THE World University Rankings, but with slightly more weight given to teaching and research metrics and slightly less to citations. The complete methodology can be found here.

Top 10 universities for business and economics degrees

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Sloan School of Management, also known as MIT Sloan, offers business programmes.

In addition to MBA courses, executive training programmes and other postgraduate degrees, the school also teaches undergraduates through “Course 15”, which provides business skills to students with a technical and quantitative background.

The classes feature problem sets that make use of real-world business cases, tackling them with scientific approaches. The course also provides opportunities to conduct research and take part in entrepreneurship competitions.

Business courses at MIT cover a variety of topics, including operations research, consulting, entrepreneurship, finance, information technology, product development and marketing.

There is an emphasis on innovation across all these topics. Many influential new ideas in business, including the field of system dynamics, were born out of work at the Sloan School.

2. Stanford University

Stanford University’s graduate business school admits students for MBA, PhD, master’s and executive degrees.

The business school at Stanford is known to be the most selective in the US, based on the competition for acceptance on a course. Typically, less than 7 per cent of applicants secure a place.

Postgraduate students can take joint degrees with other schools, combining business with subjects such as earth sciences, education and law.

Although there is no specific business and management programme for undergraduates, students can choose to major in economics, international relations or management science and engineering.

3. Tsinghua University

The Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management offers undergraduate, master’s, doctoral and executive education programmes.

Eight majors are available: management science and engineering; finance; economics; accounting; corporation strategy and policy; marketing; human resources management; and technology economics and management.

The school offers an entirely English-taught Global MBA Programme in collaboration with MIT’s Sloan School of Management. 

4. University of Oxford

Undergraduate business students at the University of Oxford study economics and management within the traditional degree framework, and they are taught primarily in small group tutorials.

Oxford’s academic department for business is the Saïd Business School, which teaches business, management and finance.

Postgraduate programmes on offer include the popular MBA programme, an executive MBA programme, a PhD in management studies and master’s degrees in financial economics, law and finance, and strategic management.

MBA students can also extend their one-year degree to combine the course with one of the specialised master’s programmes.

All business students are members of an Oxford college and participate in university life outside the business school. Although not all colleges accept business students, the majority do.

5. University of California, Berkeley

The Haas Business School at the University of California, Berkeley offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in business. It is the second-oldest business school in the US. 

While studying business at the university, students can use the career management group advisers to create personalised career plans and connect with businesses at which they might be interested in working. 

Faculty in the business school have won two Nobel prizes.

6. University of Cambridge

Business and economics degrees are generally taught at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School. Courses include the MBA, Master of Finance, Master of Accounting and a number of MPhil programmes.

The business school has developed partnerships with companies in the private sector to facilitate collaborations. Business students are given the opportunity to work with the university’s partners on business and research projects. Students can also make the most of the nearby incubators, science parks and innovation centres.

The business school is home to the Entrepreneurship Centre, the Centre for Business Research and the Psychometrics Centre.  

7. Peking University

Business and economics programmes are delivered by the Peking University HSBC Business School. The school offers master’s, MBAs and PhD programmes in fields including economics, management and finance.

There are also part-time master’s programmes, executive programmes and summer programmes. 

The business school is home to a number of research centres, including the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the China Centre for Enterprise Information. 

8. Harvard University

Harvard University’s Business School is one of the most prestigious postgraduate business schools in the world.

The school offers a two-year MBA with a focus on real-world practice. There are also eight doctoral programmes leading to PhDs or DBAs.

At the moment, Harvard does not offer an undergraduate business programme, but students are able to study economics at undergraduate level. There are also summer programmes for undergraduates. These range from a one-day taster of the MBA programme to a 10-week course on research into markets and organisations. 

9. The University of Chicago

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business offers an MBA degree in four formats: full-time MBA, evening MBA, weekend MBA and the global executive MBA programme.

The school also offers a PhD programme as well as three joint PhD programmes. Students can combine their business PhD programme with marketing, financial economics and psychology.

Undergraduates are also able to take business courses within the university’s Faculty of Economics.

=10. National University of Singapore

NUS Business School offers a wide range of programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. 

Courses cover many topics including accounting, analytics and operations, finance, management and organisation, marketing, real estate and strategy and policy. 

Through NUS Enterprise, the school encourages students to learn about entrepreneurship and innovation. It organises summer and winter programmes where students can meet with startups and organisations and learn how to pitch business ideas. 

=10. University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania's business school is known as The Wharton School. 

The school offers an undergraduate business programme, as well as an MBA and doctoral pgorammes. There are also professional certificates and online learning opportunitites for mid-career professionals looking to gain new knowledge and experience. 

Both undergraduate and postgraduate students are able to take part in research programmes, either through established scholars programmes or the university scholars programmes which enables students to undertake year-long independent research projects.