On Thursday, Forbes magazine ranked the Schulich School of Business at York University number one in Canada for return on investment (ROI) – a key measure for determining the earning power of a business school’s MBA degree.
The Forbes global ranking, conducted every two years, measured the ROI experienced by MBA graduates from the class of 2008 five years after obtaining their degrees. Forbes surveyed 17,000 MBA graduates from 100 business schools around the world and calculated an ROI total by determining average post-MBA compensation over a five-year period minus the costs associated with attending business school (tuition, fees and foregone salary). For more details about the Forbes ranking methodology, visit the Forbes website.
“For many MBA students, the return on investment they receive after graduating is a key measure of the value of their degree,” 
said Schulich Dean Dezsö J. Horváth. “In terms of the ‘years to payback’ metric, Schulich fared well among all two-year business schools outside the US and against all US schools as well.”
Dezsö J. Horváth
Schulich was the top-rated Canadian business school and was ranked 10th overall among two-year MBA programs outside the US. Schulich was the only Canadian school to be ranked among the top 10 in both the one-year and two-year, non-US MBA categories. London Business School was ranked number one by Forbes among two-year programs outside the US, while IMD placed first among one-year MBA programs outside the US. Stanford was the top-ranked US MBA program. For more ranking details, visit the Forbes article.
According to the ranking results, Schulich had the highest ROI among all MBA programs in Canada, with Schulich graduates reporting an average return on investment of US$54,400.
“We’re very pleased to see that the ROI provided by a Schulich MBA degree was once again rated by Forbes as the best in Canada and one of the best among all two-year MBA programs outside the US,” says Horváth.
Schulich had the highest five-year gain of any Canadian business school in both the one-year and two-year, non-US MBA categories. Schulich was also one of only three two-year, non-US MBA programs to record a higher average ROI versus the ROI recorded in the previous Forbes ranking. (Schulich MBA graduates posted an average five-year gain of US$47,000 in 2011-2012 versus US$54,400 in this year’s ranking.)
The Forbes ranking also showed that Schulich fared well in another ROI metric – the “years to payback” category, which measured the average number of years needed to recoup foregone income and tuition costs. Schulich posted a years to payback result of 3.6 years, a number that placed the school jointly tied for seventh in the world among two-year, non-US MBA programs, and higher than all of the top 15 MBA programs in the US. Schulich’s average years to payback also improved, going from 4.1 years in 2011-2012 to 3.6 in this year’s ranking.