BusinessWeek MBA Rankings

Online education has been gathering momentum for some time. Now a well-regarded BusinessWeek MBA Rankings is planning an ambitious online venture that represents a new model for online education.
The Thunderbird School of Global Management (Thunderbird Full-Time MBA Profile) intends to announce its plans in the coming months, says President Ángel Cabrera. Thunderbird already has some experience with online education. Since 1998, Thunderbird has also offered live satellite courses to students in learning facilities throughout Latin America. Combined, the two programs have about 500 students enrolled.
As Cabrera envisions it, the partnership would allow Thunderbird to retain control over the educational experience, including curriculum and faculty, and make use of Thunderbird’s strengths in international business education.

Competition and Congressional Scrutiny

At first, Cabrera says, the partnership will offer non degree executive-education programs online. Based in Glendale, Ariz., Thunderbird operates at ground zero for the U.S. online education industry. Arizona State University in Tempe offers nearly 50 online degree programs while the private, for-profit Grand Canyon University and the University of Phoenix, a subsidiary of the Apollo Group (APOL), both operate out of Phoenix.
In 1998, the school had just 3,000 students enrolled in its online programs, says Brian Mueller, formerly chief operating officer and senior vice-president of the University of Phoenix online campus and now chief executive officer of Grand Canyon University.
Notwithstanding phenomenal growth, Brian Lindquist, associate vice-president of academic affairs and dean of the business school at University of Phoenix, maintains that online educational programs are still in growth mode. He says there’s plenty of room for Thunderbird.
For his part, Cabrera says he believes that Thunderbird’s strengths as a bastion of international business education will play well online.
Harvard Business School took this year’s number two spot, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School came in at third. Stanford Graduate School of Business rounded out the top five.
On a separate international ranking, INSEAD moved into the number one spot, followed by Canada’s Queens University, Spain’s IE Business School, ESADE (also in Spain) and London BusinessWeek MBA Rankings. Notably, the number of ranked schools more than doubled this year, with Bloomberg BW assigning a ranking to the top 75 schools