Open-enrollment executive education programs at the UW-Madison School of Business have been rated best in the world for the second year in a row by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
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The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business has made the Financial Times' ninth annual list of the world's top executive education providers for the third consecutive year. In its May 14 business education section, the London-based newspaper ranked executive education programs throughout the world. UW-Madison was ranked 13th in the U.S. (26th in the world) in the publication's overall ranking.
For custom executive education programs, UW-Madison was ranked 20th among U.S. schools and 29th in the world. The custom program was also ranked 1st in the “value for money” category and 2nd for food and accommodations. For open enrollment programs, UW-Madison was ranked 15th among the top providers in the U.S. and 28th in the world. The open enrollment program ranked 7th for food and accommodations, as well as for repeat business and growth.
The Financial Times’ ranking methodology includes data provided by the school and a survey of more than 4,000 senior and general management course participants. Fifty-two schools participated in the open enrolment category and 67 in the customized category. The ranking is based on 16 categories that include course design, faculty, teaching materials and quality of participants, among others.
Roger Maclean, associate dean for Executive Education, remarks, "We are pleased that the Financial Times continues to recognize our executive education programs for delivering both quality and value. This is a great tribute to our team and the School of Business and also recognizes the Fluno Center as one of the top locations to participate in these types of programs. We are proud that our programs play an important role in helping the economic development and growth of Wisconsin."
The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business has been ranked 29th among all business schools in the United States by U.S. News and World Report. The school advances two places from a ranking of 31st in 2006, and eight places from 2005, to achieve its highest ranking in this publication since 1990. UW-Madison tied Michigan State for sixth among the Big Ten schools.
U.S. News bases its rankings on data furnished by schools, recruiters, deans and MBA program directors across a broad range of indicators:
(View the entire U.S. News report)
The School of Business launched a new MBA program based on career specializations in fall 2004. The first class of students of this new program graduated in May 2006. The new specialized Wisconsin MBA program prepares students to launch careers in highly focused areas.
Based on internal measurements, the school has made progress on key fundamentals:
“This increase in our ranking reflects the success of the career-focused MBA strategy that we are currently implementing,” said School of Business Dean Michael M. Knetter. “This is especially satisfying because the ranking is based on the responses of our first class of students to complete the new Wisconsin MBA model.”
The Wisconsin MBA is at the forefront of a trend toward specialized MBA programs. The mission of the program is to be the school of choice for students who have a clear career objective. The career specializations deliver programs that are enriched by dedicated faculty, staff, alumni support and external advisory boards. The focused program facilitates real-world experiences and effective career networking.
Wisconsin MBA students in the Applied Security Analysis Program (ASAP) are becoming somewhat of a fixture on CNBC’s Fast Money. In recent months, the students have appeared on the nationally televised business news program, which showcases advice from Wall Street traders.
The program’s “Grade the Trade” segment tests the trading prowess of some of the most promising business students in the nation. On Friday, July 20, the segment showcased MBAs from University of Wisconsin-Madison, Purdue, University of Richmond and Boston College. Representing Wisconsin was second-year ASAP student Chris Reger. As part of ASAP, Reger helps manage a $42 million student-managed portfolio.
In the “Grade the Trade segment” of Fast Money, students are asked to give rapid-fire reaction to proposed trading situations. Reger’s portion of the program was taped in Kansas City, Missouri, where he is an investment management intern with American Century Investments, working on three mutual fund teams.
Reger was given the following scenario: A steam pipe in New York breaks and in the days that follow, cities from New York to Atlanta say they will double the amount of money they plan to spend to improve aging public works systems. What are you buying, what are you selling as this scenario unfolds? Reger’s reply included buying engineering firms such as Fluor Corp. (FLR) and Shaw Group (SGR). He also recommended buying Caterpillar (CAT), as well as steel companies such as Nucor (NUE) and McDermott International (MDR). Reger received an “A” for his answer from program host Pete Najarian.
Reger says he believes the positive feedback he received is a “clear reflection on the rigorous curriculum, collaborative environment and superior experience of the Applied Securities Analysis Program. I feel confident that any one of our students could 'ace' the trade!"
It was the third month in a row that a Wisconsin MBA appeared on Fast Money.
In June, the show’s “Face 2 Face” segment featured another second-year Wisconsin MBA student, Erica Healey. Healey had the chance to ask a question about buying real estate investment trusts (REITs). Healey is currently interning at Callahan Capital Partners in Chicago.
In May, Adam Sweet, a new graduate of the Applied Security Analysis Program (ASAP), competed against MBAs from Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, Columbia Business School and the University of North Carolina on Fast Money’s Grade the Trade segment.
G. Kevin Spellman, director of the Hawk Center for Applied Security Analysis at the UW-Madison School of Business, says the CNBC coverage is just one example of the program receiving national media attention. In January, for example, the program had a major profile in Smart Money magazine. Spellman attributes the attention to the high caliber of students in the program, the two-year structure of the program culminating in management of real-money portfolios in the second year, the people involved in the program, and the ASAP’s strong relationships with money management firms. “The hands-on experience the students receive in investment management is challenging and real,” Spellman says, “and that fact is increasingly being recognized.”
Three veterans of Silicon Valley’s blazing tech success shared their business expertise with graduate students in life sciences and engineering at the first-ever Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Bootcamp, held in Grainger Hall this summer.
School of Business alumni G. Steven Burrill, CEO of Burrill & Company, and John Morgridge, chairman emeritus of Cisco System explored with students how business start-ups help create economic and social value. Mark Leslie, founding chairman and CEO of Veritas Software, was the third representative of Silicon Valley tech success who participated in Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Bootcamp.
The five-day pilot program and the three men who run “companies that changed the way the world does business” were featured in an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Silicon Valley Comes to Madison.”
