The Copenhagen MBA snatches #24 in the Financial Times’ Top MBAs for Women ranking

The Copenhagen MBA snatches #24 in the Financial Times’ Top MBAs for Women ranking

The Copenhagen MBA is in the top twenty when it comes to the proportion of women in the class.

Attracting female talent is high on the agenda for many business schools, and with 41% women in the current class, the Copenhagen MBA seems to be on the right path towards ensuring greater gender balance in business education. The programme was recently ranked #24 in The Financial Times’ inaugural ranking of top MBAs for women.

According to Fatima Dhaif, Admissions Manger for the Copenhagen MBA, the high proportion of women in the class has to do both with the content and format of the programme, the recruitment strategy and the wider context of Scandinavian culture.

“From applications and interviews, we know that the programme’s focus on sustainability and responsible management is something that resonates well with women. The small class size and the personalized admissions process are also important elements that seem to appeal to women. And finally there is the location of the business school in Copenhagen; judging by the motivations mentioned by female applicants, the Scandinavian business culture – with its emphasis on work-life balance and non-hierarchical management style – is a major drawcard as well.”

To current student Laura Starkey-Garrido, inclusion and diversity were decisive factors when she opted for the Copenhagen MBA:

“One of the reasons I chose the Copenhagen MBA was because it has a strong representation of women in the class; more so than other top European business schools I was looking at. At over 40%, my class has an even higher percentage of female students than last year’s class! The diversity of voices makes for a strong and inclusive learning environment, representative of future business surroundings.”

The Financial Times’ Top MBAs for Women ranking is based on data collected for the Global MBA ranking published in January 2018. It looks at elements such as gender balance among students and faculty, post-MBA salary, salary increase, aims achieved, etc. What is unique to this ranking is that it only takes alumni responses from women into account. It also introduces a new measure, the graduate gender pay gap, calculated as average female salary relative to average male salary.

The Copenhagen MBA is in the top twenty when it comes to the proportion of women in the class, and the programme outperforms all the other schools in the list with respect to the gender pay gap criterion – among the women from the 2014 class who responded to the FT alumni survey, the average post-MBA salary was actually higher compared to their male colleagues!

For a full view of the ranking, please visit the FT.