BusinessWeek magazine ranked Elon University the #1 school in the South, and the sixth best school in the nation, in a list of top part-time MBA programs released Thursday afternoon during a live online chat hosted by magazine staff.
Elon jumped six spots from its 2007 ranking, now topping some of the premier names in graduate business education, and it is the only university in North Carolina to have cracked the top 30 for part-time programs.
The university is among the top six programs in the nation on three benchmarks – average class size (22 students), academic quality and student satisfaction.
“It’s evidence of the creativity and quality of our professors, the focus on building community, and our students,” said Mary Gowan, dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business. “Kudos go to our dedicated faculty and staff in the MBA program.”
The rankings were formulated on three measures, including a survey sent to a sample of students. A second measure, academic quality, was based on six criteria – average GMAT scores, average work experience, the percentage of all faculty members in the part-time MBA program who are tenured, average class size in core business classes, the number of business electives available to part-time MBA students, and the program’s completion rate.
BusinessWeek said the third measure, of post-MBA outcomes, “is based on the percentage of survey respondents who say their program was ‘completely’ responsible for them achieving their goals.”
“I think it’s magnificent,” said professor Bill Burpitt, director of the MBA and Executive Education programs at Elon. “It reflects on our students. It looks good for our faculty. And it looks great for the university.”
From BusinessWeek:
2009 Regional Rank: 1st (South)
2009 National Rank: 6th
Rated Best For: Career Advancers
Average GMAT Score: 562
Completion Rate: 95%
Grads Reporting Salary Increase: 51.9%
Average Salary Increase: 18.8%
Academic Quality Rank: 4th (tie)
Student Satisfaction Rank: 6th