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Best universities for business degrees 2024

Find the best universities for business degrees using Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2024 data

    October 26 2023
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    Top 10 universities in the world for business degrees 2024

    Scroll down for the full list of best universities in the world for business degrees.

    Business rank 2024  Business rank 2023  University Country/region
     1   1  Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
     2  2  Stanford University United States
     3   4  Harvard University United States
     4   7  University of California, Berkeley United States
     =5   6  University of Cambridge United Kingdom
     =5   3  University of Oxford United Kingdom
     7   5  The University of Chicago United States
     8   8  Tsinghua University China
     9   9  Yale University United States
     10   15  Peking University China

    Choosing where to study business is an important decision for prospective students, so Times Higher Education has published a world ranking of business and economics degrees.

    The subject ranking for business includes 909 universities in 62 countries.


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    The majority of the top 20 universities in the business ranking are US colleges, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University 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 features two institutions from two Asian territories 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 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.

    Scroll down for a full list of degrees covered by the ranking and the career paths that they open up.


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    Top 5 universities for business and economics degrees

    =5. 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 Cambridge

    Business and economics degrees are generally taught at the 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.  

    4. 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.


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    3. 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. 

    2. Stanford University

    Stanford’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.

    1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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

    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.


    Best universities for business degrees in the UK
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    Best universities for business degrees in the United States
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    Top 200 universities for business and economics 2024

    Click each institution to view its World University Rankings 2024 profile

    Business rank 2024  Business rank 2023  University Country/region
     1   1  Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
     2   2  Stanford University United States
     3   4  Harvard University United States
     4   7  University of California, Berkeley United States
     =5   6  University of Cambridge United Kingdom
     =5   3  University of Oxford United Kingdom
     7   5  The University of Chicago United States
     8   8  Tsinghua University China
     9   9  Yale University United States
     10   15  Peking University China
     11   10  London School of Economics and Political Science United Kingdom
     12   13  University of Pennsylvania United States
     13   14  Northwestern University United States
     14   =11  Columbia University United States
     15   =11  National University of Singapore Singapore
     16   16  ETH Zurich Switzerland
     17   18  New York University United States
     18   17  Duke University United States
     19   19  University of California, Los Angeles United States
     20   21  Cornell University United States
     21   20  University of Michigan-Ann Arbor United States
     22   22  Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands
     23   23  UCL United Kingdom
     24   =25  University of Toronto Canada
     25   30  Shanghai Jiao Tong University China
     26   24  University of Warwick United Kingdom
     27   33  Technical University of Munich Germany
     =28   =25  Copenhagen Business School Denmark
     =28   =31  The University of Tokyo Japan
     30   29  The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong
     31   36  University of Manchester United Kingdom
     32   28  Carnegie Mellon University United States
     33   =31  University of California, San Diego United States
     34   40  University of Minnesota United States
     35   38  University of British Columbia Canada
     36   =47  LMU Munich Germany
     37   41  University of Mannheim Germany
     38   45  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Singapore
     39   34  University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
     40   =47  Tilburg University Netherlands
     41   35  University of Melbourne Australia
     =42   59  Fudan University China
     =42   37  Zhejiang University China
     =42   =42  University of Zurich Switzerland
     45   27  Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong
     46   39  Monash University Australia
     47   44  Yonsei University (Seoul campus) South Korea
     =48   52  City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
     =48   49  Dartmouth College United States
     50   46  Michigan State University United States
     51   =42  University of Southern California United States
     52   =73  University of Groningen Netherlands
     53   71  University of Bonn Germany
     54   50  University of Washington United States
     55   55  Australian National University Australia
     56   58  University of Edinburgh United Kingdom
     =57   60  Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
     =57   62  KU Leuven Belgium
     =59   53  University of St Gallen Switzerland
     =59   57  University of Texas at Austin United States
     61   90  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign United States
     63   76  University of California, Davis United States
     64   56  King’s College London United Kingdom
     65   54  Boston University United States
     66   66  Indiana University United States
     67   =77  University of Wisconsin-Madison United States
     =68   93  Purdue University West Lafayette United States
     =68   99  University of Virginia (Main campus) United States
     =70   83  University of Amsterdam Netherlands
     =70   88  University of Sydney Australia
     =72   70  Johns Hopkins University United States
     =72   =77  University of Montreal Canada
     74   51  The University of Queensland Australia
     75   =67  University of Nottingham United Kingdom
     =76   =100  Federal University of Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées France
     =76   =63  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States
     78   94  Kyoto University Japan
     79   101–125  University of Reading United Kingdom
     =80   126–150  University of Massachusetts United States
     =80   96  University of Navarra Spain
     82   =86  Lund University Sweden
     83   80  Maastricht University Netherlands
     84   =86  Aalto University Finland
     85   79  University of Maryland, College Park United States
     86   101–125  Western University Canada
     88   65  Seoul National University South Korea
     89   =73  McGill University Canada
     90   =67  University of Surrey United Kingdom
     =91   =100  Penn State (Main campus) United States
     =91   101–125  Trinity College Dublin Ireland
     93   85  Pompeu Fabra University Spain
     94   82  University of Florida United States
     95   89  Texas A&M University United States
     96   101–125  City, University of London United Kingdom
     =97   81  Nanjing University China
     =97   72  UNSW Sydney Australia
     =99   69  Lancaster University United Kingdom
     =99   101–125  Ohio State University (Main campus) United States
     101–125   151–175  Aarhus University Denmark
     101–125   151–175  Abu Dhabi University United Arab Emirates
     101–125   101–125  University of Alberta Canada
     101–125   61  Arizona State University (Tempe) United States
     101–125   101–125  University of Birmingham United Kingdom
     101–125   151–175  University of Bologna Italy
     101–125   101–125  Boston College United States
     101–125   101–125  Durham University United Kingdom
     101–125   126–150  George Washington University United States
     101–125   101–125  University of Glasgow United Kingdom
     101–125   97  University of Leeds United Kingdom
     101–125   84  National Taiwan University (NTU) Taiwan
     101–125   98  Politecnico di Milano Italy
     101–125   126–150  Queensland University of Technology Australia
     101–125   101–125  Universitat Ramon Llull Spain
     101–125   201–250  University of São Paulo Brazil
     101–125   101–125  University of Science and Technology of China China
     101–125   92  Sichuan University China
     101–125   126–150  University of Southampton United Kingdom
     101–125   126–150  Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) South Korea
     101–125   101–125  University of Sussex United Kingdom
     101–125   101–125  Tongji University China
     101–125   101–125  University of Twente Netherlands
     101–125   101–125  University of Vienna Austria
     101–125   91  Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Netherlands
     126–150   126–150  University of Auckland New Zealand
     126–150   101–125  Autonomous University of Barcelona Spain
     126–150   101–125  University of Bath United Kingdom
     126–150   176–200  Beihang University China
     126–150   151–175  Beijing Institute of Technology China
     126–150   201–250  University of Cologne Germany
     126–150   151–175  Free University of Berlin Germany
     126–150   201–250  University of Georgia United States
     126–150   101–125  Ghent University Belgium
     126–150   101–125  Griffith University Australia
     126–150   126–150  Institut Polytechnique de Paris France
     126–150   126–150  Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT Finland
     126–150   151–175  Loughborough University United Kingdom
     126–150   151–175  Macquarie University Australia
     126–150   151–175  University of Malaya Malaysia
     126–150   176–200  RMIT University Australia
     126–150   101–125  Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies – Pisa Italy
     126–150   95  University of Sheffield United Kingdom
     126–150   126–150  University of Technology Sydney Australia
     126–150   126–150  University College Dublin Ireland
     126–150   301–400  Vanderbilt University United States
     126–150   101–125  Washington University in St Louis United States
     126–150   101–125  The University of Western Australia Australia
     126–150   301–400  Wuhan University China
     126–150   201–250  University of York United Kingdom
     151–175   126–150  University of Bayreuth Germany
     151–175   176–200  Beijing Normal University China
     151–175   201–250  Cardiff University United Kingdom
     151–175   126–150  University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Germany
     151–175   126–150  University of Essex United Kingdom
     151–175   151–175  Georgia State University United States
     151–175   =63  King Abdulaziz University Saudi Arabia
     151–175   126–150  Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) South Korea
     151–175   151–175  Kyung Hee University South Korea
     151–175   151–175  University of Newcastle Australia
     151–175   201–250  Northeastern University, US United States
     151–175   151–175  Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris France
     151–175   201–250  Universiti Putra Malaysia Malaysia
     151–175   126–150  Universiti Sains Malaysia Malaysia
     151–175   126–150  Sejong University South Korea
     151–175   126–150  University of Southern Denmark Denmark
     151–175   176–200  Stockholm University Sweden
     151–175   151–175  Sun Yat-sen University China
     151–175   151–175  Swansea University United Kingdom
     151–175   251–300  Swinburne University of Technology Australia
     151–175   151–175  Technical University of Berlin Germany
     151–175   201–250  Temple University United States
     151–175   201–250  Tianjin University China
     151–175   126–150  University of Waikato New Zealand
     151–175   201–250  University of Waterloo Canada
     151–175   176–200  Worcester Polytechnic Institute United States
     176–200   251–300  University of Adelaide Australia
     176–200   126–150  Aston University United Kingdom
     176–200   126–150  University of Canterbury New Zealand
     176–200   176–200  Université Catholique de Louvain Belgium
     176–200   251–300  Curtin University Australia
     176–200   151–175  University of Exeter United Kingdom
     176–200   176–200  Free University of Bozen-Bolzano Italy
     176–200   201–250  Georgetown University United States
     176–200   251–300  Harbin Institute of Technology China
     176–200   201–250  Huazhong University of Science and Technology China
     176–200   251–300  University of Innsbruck Austria
     176–200   201–250  Linköping University Sweden
     176–200   251–300  North Carolina State University United States
     176–200   126–150  Radboud University Nijmegen Netherlands
     176–200   126–150  University of Rochester United States
     176–200   201–250  Sapienza University of Rome Italy
     176–200   201–250  University of South Australia Australia
     176–200   176–200  Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Malaysia
     176–200   201–250  United Arab Emirates University United Arab Emirates
     176–200   151–175  Universiti Utara Malaysia Malaysia
     176–200   201–250  Washington State University United States
     176–200   251–300  University of Wollongong Australia

     

    Editor’s note: As part of our THE statement on Ukraine published on 2 March 2022, Russian universities have been given less prominence in our rankings. Russian universities that met the criteria for this ranking are not displayed in the table above.


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