Corporate Knights evaluated 147 MBA programmes for the ranking and included the Financial Times 100 Global MBA programmes for 2021. The ranking looked at the business schools’ curriculum, research centres and institutions dedicated to sustainability and the volume of faculty research on sustainability-related topics. Increased core courses and faculty research aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and improved gender and racial diversity among its faculty helped Gibs achieve this top spot.
To qualify for the ranking, all programmes had to be accredited by AMBA, AACSB, or EQUIS, and/or be signatories of the United Nations (UN) Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). Gibs is a PRME signatory and has been a proud member of the PRME Champions group since 2009.
Gibs interim dean Dr Morris Mthombeni said, “This acknowledgment from Corporate Knights is very encouraging. It is recognition of the considerable effort from the school as we work towards producing responsible and conscious leaders who will lead organisations of the future.”
Over the past few years, Gibs has made significant inroads and has put much emphasis on sustainability-focused elective offerings, and integrated social responsibility topics into the MBA curriculum and research output. This is in line with the school’s pledge as a UN PRME champion to work collaboratively as an advocate and champion of responsible management education by integrating the SDGs into business school strategy to achieve the PRME principles.
“In this changing social and business environment, our responsibility is to continue to inspire exceptional performance in order to make business healthier in so doing contribute to healthier economies and communities,” added Mthombeni.
“Every MBA programme in the world should be instilling holistic purpose in leaders, ensuring they have the skills, tools and values to build a more inclusive, healthier economy that’s beneficial to society and in harmony with the natural world, and the Better World business schools are leading the way,” said Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights.
| 2021 Rank | School | Country |
| 1 | Griffith Business School | Australia |
| 2 | Maastricht University - School of Business and Economics | Netherlands |
| 3 | Warwick Business School | UK |
| 4 | York University – Schulich School of Business | Canada |
| 5 | Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics | Canada |
| 6 | University of Edinburgh Business School | UK |
| 7 | Duquesne University – Palumbo-Donahue School of Business | US |
| 8 | University of Vermont – Grossman School of Business | US |
| 9 | University of St Gallen | Switzerland |
| 10 | Durham University Business School | UK |
| 11 | Ryerson University – Ted Rogers School of Management | Canada |
| 12 | University of Exeter Business School | UK |
| 13 | Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary's University | Canada |
| 14 | La Trobe Business School | Australia |
| 15 | Universidad Externado de Colombia School of Management | Colombia |
| 16 | University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler | US |
| 17 | University of Strathclyde – Strathclyde Business School | UK |
| 18 | University of Victoria – Peter B. Gustavson School of Business | Canada |
| 19 | Georgia Institute of Technology: Scheller | US |
| 20 | Colorado State University College of Business | US |
| 21 | University of Miami – Miami Herbert Business School | US |
| 22 | University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business | South Africa |
| 23 | WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management | Germany |
| 24 | Fordham University – Gabelli School of Business | US |
| 25 | McGill University: Desautels | Canada |
| 26 | Mannheim Business School | Germany |
| 27 | Glasgow Caledonian University: School of Business & Society | UK |
| 28 | University of Toronto: Rotman | Canada |
| 29 | Gonzaga University Graduate School of Business | US |
| 30 | University of Bath – School of Management | UK |
| 31 | University of California Berkeley – Haas School of Business | US |
| 32 | Audencia Business School | France |
| 33 | Nottingham University Business School | UK |
| 34 | Eada Business School Barcelona | Spain |
| 35 | Carleton University Sprott School of Business | Canada |
| 36 | EMLyon Business School | France |
| 37 | Imperial College Business School | UK |
| 38 | Alliance Manchester Business School | UK |
| 38 | Insead | France |
| 39 | Gordon Institute of Business Science | South Africa |
| 39 | IE Business School | Spain |
| 40 | IMD Business School | Switzerland |
About GIBS
Founded in 2000, the University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs) is an internationally accredited business school, based in Johannesburg, South Africa's economic hub. As the business school for business, we focus on general management in dynamic markets to significantly improve responsible individual and organisational performance, primarily in the South African environment and increasingly in our broader African environment, through the provision of high quality business and management education. In May 2020, the annual UK Financial Times Executive Education rankings, a global benchmark for providers of executive education, once again ranked Gibs as the top South African and African business school. This is the 17th year running that Gibs has been ranked among the top business schools worldwide. In October 2019 the Gibs MBA was ranked among the top 100 business schools globally in the prestigious Financial Times Executive MBA Rankings. Gibs is one of two business schools in Africa to appear in this ranking.
Gibs is accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and is a member of the South African Business Schools Association (Sabsa), and the Association of African Business Schools (AABS). For more information, visit www.gibs.co.za.
