Older graduates use EMBA as a start-up springboard, FT Rankings show

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According to data from the 2024 FT EMBA Rankings, the number of executive MBA graduates who formed their own companies increased sharply for those in their late 40s or older.

While 29 percent of alumni aged 30 and under have created one or more start-ups within three years of completing their degree, this is up from one-third for those in their late 40s and more than two-fifths for those aged 54 and over.

Data for graduates who completed their EMBA in 2021 at business schools participating in the assessment of the China Europe International Business School (CEBS) 2024 ranking in Shanghai. The FT data supports broader statistics on the importance of more mature founders, who often have more contacts, access to capital and experience — and may also lose out in their efforts to reach the top of their existing employers.

Overall, the share of alumni from all participating schools rose from 25 percent in 2016 to 29 percent this year, below a peak of 30 percent in 2023. The average age of alumni who started-ups peaked at over 43 years old after completing their EMBA, compared to 41 in 2016.

Ceibs, established in 1994 through a partnership between the EU and the Chinese government, has been ranked top by the FT for the first time – having been second for the past four years. It is also the first time a school in the Asia-Pacific region has topped the table with a single EMBA, not run in partnership with an institution elsewhere.

The Shanghai school's top ranking belies China's recent economic slowdown, travel and operational restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, and rising geopolitical tensions with Europe and the United States. This was partially offset by bringing in international students to Ceibs' subsidiary campuses in Switzerland and Ghana.

Ceibs' increase reflects a higher average alumni salary of about $537,000 after adjusting for purchasing power parity using IMF rates. All five of the highest salaries were recorded by China-based courses, except for one in a joint EMBA program with a US partner.

Earnings dropped significantly three years after completing the course

The FT ranking is based on criteria including average alumni salary, faculty research publications in selected journals, and gender and citizenship diversity of students and faculty.

While the age of EMBA students has remained roughly constant in recent years, three years after completing the course, when polled by the FT, their earnings have fallen significantly in real terms. Median pay for those over 40 fell from a recent peak of $240,000 annually in 2018 to $210,000 this year, after adjusting for inflation, with a similar decline for younger alumni.

Those working in healthcare earned the highest salaries, ahead of alumni working in financial services, insurance and banking, which collectively came in second by sector, with technology, telecoms and IT third.

Interest in the EMBA, typically studied in middle and senior managers with more than a decade of work experience alongside jobs, appears to be relatively strong although it generally stagnates among the younger cohort seeking a full-time MBA.

Michael Desiderio, head of the Executive MBA Council (EMBAC), a professional association of business schools that offer EMBAs, says there is demand among its members. There has been a slight increase in the number of participating institutions, new programs have been launched and the average cohort size has increased to over 57.

A survey of EMBAC members found that average tuition costs will rise from $94,000 last year to $95,000 in 2024, while nearly 55 percent of students at their school said employers did not contribute to the cost now, 27 percent said they received partial reimbursement, and 18 percent said they All expenses were covered by their employer.

Of the top 100 global business schools ranked by the FT, only two — Iscte Business School, which has campuses in Portugal, Spain and the UK, and Grenoble Ecole de Management in France and Georgia — had an equal share of female and male faculty, the highest score. Fordham University's Gabelli School of Business reports gender parity among students, with only 13 out of 100 schools having more women than men.

The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School was the leader for academic research, as measured by recent articles in leading peer-reviewed journals, followed by Chicago's Booth School of Business.

IE Business School was ranked highest for its integration of environmental, social and governance issues into core courses, and Milan's SDA Bocconi School of Management was ranked highest for the most ambitious goal to reduce carbon emissions on its campus.

Yale School of Management ranked highest for goals achieved by its alumni, and BI topped the assessment of the joint EMBA alumni networks provided by the Norwegian Business School and China's Fudan University School of Management.