Best universities for business degrees 2024

By seeta.bhardwa@…, 26 October, 2023

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

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