Best business schools in Europe
Europe’s top business schools
If you are pursuing a business education, one factor to consider is how well the school is ranked compared to other business schools. In early 2025, the Financial Times released its ranking of business schools in Europe.
The rank and performance are determined by the range and quality of each school’s different programs, compared to all other European business study programs. Some of the newer parameters also considered are the MBA rankings, the faculty make-up, and the expected starting salaries.
Whilst rankings can play an important part in your choice of institution, it is also crucial that you feel that you would be a good fit for your chosen business school.
As well as the general business rankings, we also cover institution rankings for specific award types. For business, these include MBA programmes, Executive MBA programmes, and Master in Management (MiM) programmes.
We list below the top ten best business schools in Europe in the different categories.
Executive MBA
| Ranking | University | Location |
| 1 | Ceibs | China/Switzerland/Ghana |
| 2 | ESCP Business School | France/Germany/UK/Italy/Spain/Poland |
| 3 | Washington University: Olin | China/US |
| 4 | IESE Business School | Spain/US/Germany |
| 5 | Trium: HEC/LSE/NYU: Stern | France/US/UK |
Online MBA
| Ranking | University | Location |
| 1 | IE Business School | Spain |
| 2 | Imperial College Business School | UK |
| 3 | Warwick Business School | UK |
| 4 | University of Southern California: Marshall | US |
| 5 | Carnegie Mellon: Tepper | US |
MBA
| Ranking | University | Location |
| 1 | University of Pennsylvania: Wharton | US |
| 2 | Columbia Business School | US |
| 3 | IESE Business School | Spain |
| =4 | Insead | France |
| =4 | SDA Bocconi School of Management | Italy |
Masters in Management
| Ranking | University | Location |
| 1 | University of St Gallen | Switzerland |
| 2 | HEC Paris | France |
| 3 | Insead | France |
| 4 | Edhec Business School | France |
| 5 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University: Antai | China |
The top ten business schools in Europe (in their categories) as listed above can all provide you with a springboard to success in the business world, but there are many more business schools who can provide a pioneering business education.