MBA and EMBA programs again earn Tier One status in prestigious CEO Magazine global listing

Jacksonville University’s Master of Business Administration and Executive MBA are again rated as Tier One degree programs in a newly released prestigious international list that stands apart from traditional rankings by focusing on more qualitative factors to determine overall student value.

A record number of business schools responded to a survey to be part of CEO Magazine’s 2016 Global MBA Rankings (see http://goo.gl/l0LM4I), which look beyond typical ratings criteria to examine the worth and effectiveness of MBA programs for potential students. Factors including learning environment, faculty quality, student-to-faculty ratio, diversity, student work experience, tuition fees, delivery methods, accreditation and class size are evaluated.

The results are being published in the February 2016 CEO Magazine to help prospective students narrow their searches to identify schools that marry “exceptional quality with great Return on Investment (ROI).”

“While Jacksonville’s burgeoning aerospace industry and diverse commercial landscape serve as an attractive and compelling backdrop to the JU Davis College of Business MBA offering, it is the school’s ability to meld exceptional value with great quality that keeps it at the very top of CEO Magazine’s MBA rankings,” said CEO Magazine Group Editor-in-Chief Alexandra Skinner. “This simple but highly effective formula is not reserved for the University’s prestigious EMBA program, but rather pervades its entire MBA suite. As such, both career climbers and recent graduates benefit from a highly flexible learning format, high-quality faculty with ‘real-world’ experience, and networking opportunities that go far beyond the classroom, all underpinned by an infrastructure which is second to none.”

The CEO Magazine rankings examine the 5 percent of business schools worldwide accredited by the international Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the longest-serving global accrediting body for business schools that offer undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees in business and accounting. JU’s Davis College of Business (DCOB) received AACSB accreditation in 2010 and reaccreditation in 2015.

In addition to its large MBA program, JU offers the only accredited Executive MBA degree program in the region, which has earned Tier One Global status every year since 2013.

“In particular, this third-party validation of JU’s EMBA program by CEO Magazine is the culmination of 31 years’ work by our esteemed faculty successfully graduating 30 EMBA classes,” said Davis College of Business Dean Dr. Don Capener. “These Florida executives have since been promoted into CMO, CFO, CIO and CEO positions at CSX, Fidelity National, Florida Blue, Stellar and many banks. In addition, our entrepreneur graduates started successful ventures all over the Southeast that now employ thousands. It is overdue recognition for the 650-plus EMBA graduates actively leading organizations today.”

JU achieved distinction with its competitive tuition rate, student diversity (36.5 percent international), gender breakdown (52.4 percent female/47.6 percent male), attractive average class size (20) and percentage of faculty with terminal degrees (100 percent).

Business school leaders worldwide have praised CEO Magazine’s approach to analyzing data and selecting criteria for its rankings. To bring applicants the most “nuts and bolts” data, the magazine compares a school’s actual cost of tuition to its graduates’ salaries. Alon Rozen, Dean of the École des Ponts Business School in Paris, called the ratings “innovative, valuable and fresh in academia.”

“Instead of using quantity (i.e. faculty, student, endowment and salary sizes) as a proxy for quality – like many rankings now do – CEO Magazine has created a ranking that provides real insight, that looks beyond the veneer of marketing into the character of content, and that measures the key elements that truly define quality education today,” Rozen said in a CEO Magazine news release. “With all of the changes in education in recent years, a new approach to ranking was definitely in order, and Graduate Forum has now jumped ahead of the competition in this respect.”

JU’s MBA programs stand out in the three main rankings areas CEO Magazine uses in its evaluation: 1) ROI – the value for the tuition dollar; 2) Number of faculty with significant experience in professional practice; and 3) AACSB accreditation.

“With the JU FLEX MBA at less than $29,000 for the entire experience (including books, fees and any other expenses), and the enhanced Saturday and hybrid class options now available, it offers the most flexible and highest return on investment in graduate management in the Southeast,” Capener added.

For more about the Davis College of Business, visit www.ju.edu/dcob.