Strength in Career Outcomes, Faculty Research, and Alumni Regard Propel Foster’s Full-time MBA Program in Financial Times Ranking

Foster’s Full-time MBA program was ranked # 30 in the world by The Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2022, moving up 17 spots in just two years from 47. Foster ranked #21 by Financial Times among US schools, consistent with the rank of #21 by Poets&Quants.

📷 : Foster MBA Fritzky Leadership Fellows after wrapping up a crew rowing collaboration exercise. Fritzky Fellows are second-year, full-time MBA students who support first-year MBA students to adjust to Foster and enhance their leadership and team capabilities. They do so through peer coaching, mentoring, and more.

“We’re proud to be recognized as a best-in-class program in the world. While rankings provide a snapshot-in-time indicator of relative program performance on some important measures, we prefer to assess our effectiveness with respect to our guiding purpose. Foster’s greater purpose is: Together we foster leaders, we foster insights, and we foster progress to better humanity. This ranking result indicates that we are putting our purpose into action.” says Wendy Guild, Assistant Dean of MBA Programs.

Relevant Student Outcomes

The program’s history of strong employment outcomes is seen again this year, with a #3 ranking out of the top 50 schools in employment, with 97% of its graduating class employed within 3 months of graduation. Recent Foster MBA alumni cite technology, consulting, and healthcare as top industries for employment. Students are prepared well in classes and benefit from Foster’s rich connections to a strong alumni network and business community.

“Foster is a strong brand among recruiters – we’re known for developing future leaders who not only know how to navigate ambiguity, but who are also reflective about the greater good and bettering humanity,” says Naomi Sanchez. “This is key as the world moves from sustainability as a ‘nice-to-have’ toward sustainability as a must-have.”

The program’s high touch MBA Career Management team develops forward-thinking programs, such as design thinking and radical collaboration, that equip students to navigate a successful career.

Foster’s alumni have also seen a consistent yearly increase in salaries, rising 18% over the last 5 years, averaging $130,407 for the most recent class. In a pre- and post-program survey, the Class of 2021 doubled their salaries as a result of participating in the program.

Faculty Research

Faculty research, a strong indicator in program quality, has ranked an average #8 in the world over the last 5 years of the ranking. “One factor that’s in our favor in this dimension is our commitment to hiring top research faculty, keeping us very competitive in terms of publications—especially considered per capita—as well as generating thought leadership that students can experience in the classroom,” said Dan Turner, Associate Dean of Masters Programs. “Our purpose inspires us to focus on the intersection of rigor and relevance.”

Fostering Purpose-Driven Leaders

At Foster, we ask students to clarify their purpose, or “why?” for their career to help guide them through the program experience. With a clear focus on intention comes strong prioritization and a greater likelihood of goal achievement. This is apparent in the excellent result with respect to the Alumni “Aims Achieved” measure: 91% of Foster alumni indicated that they had achieved their aims through participation in this program. As pointed out by Poets & Quants, only two schools had a stronger result on this measure. Further, overall alumni satisfaction was higher than the vast bulk of those ranked by FT, coming in at 9.45 on a scale of 10, showing a #17 ranking result on this dimension. When students come to Foster, they are supported to achieve their goals, and report high levels of satisfaction with the experience.