Stanford has been leading the table of the best 50 MBA programmes for entrepreneurship in the past two years as well. The data that FT collected showed that more than a third (36 per cent) of Stanford MBA alumni from the class of 2013 founded a company while they were still attending the business school or in the three years following graduation.

Stanford’s continued success is explained by its strategic position near Silicon Valley as well as its focus on innovation. Participants in its MBA programme also benefit from the extensive alumni network. “While the school gave me the fundamentals, I learned from my peers and alumni, who have done start-ups themselves,” one graduate told FT.

Amongst the twelve judging criteria were the percentage of graduates who started their own company; the proportion of full-time entrepreneurs; and the level of help they received from their school and alumni network.

The ranking comprised schools from 13 countries, but was dominated by US schools, which accounted for nearly half of all ranked schools. The number of UK schools increased from three to 10 according to FT.

Ranking:

1 Stanford Graduate School of Business, US

2 MIT: Sloan, US

3 Babson College: Olin, US

4 University of Cambridge: Judge, UK

5 University of California at Berkeley: Haas, US

6 Dartmouth College: Tuck, US

7 City University: Cass, UK

8 Carnegie Mellon: Tepper, US

9 University of Oxford: Saïd, UK

10 Columbia Business School

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