Business student mobility, in charts

From international student mobility to money, motivations and diversity, business education data specialists delve into the 2022 European Business School Ranking.

The proportion of international students at European business schools differs widely between degrees. MBA cohorts are the most mixed while many foreign masters in management (MiM) and executive MBA (EMBA) students are from other European countries. Those from the Asia-Pacific region make up the next largest group.

More than two-thirds of alumni who studied for an MBA in Europe — including European nationals — had lived outside the continent before their degree programme. Even more left Europe in the three years after graduating. MBA graduates who studied outside Europe were much less internationally mobile. MiM and EMBA alumni are less likely to move regions for study or work.

MBA and EMBA alumni who studied in Europe then moved region after graduating earned higher average salaries than those who stayed on. This is especially true for EMBA graduates, with alumni who studied in Europe then moved regions earning, on average, $80,000 more than those who stayed on. MiM alumni who studied in Europe have similar salaries wherever they now work.

Alumni tend to have lower average salaries when they have changed employers multiple times in the three years since completing their course — except EMBA graduates studying in Europe. (NB, alumni who changed employers three or more times saw larger increases after graduating, despite still having the lowest average salaries.)

Management development and better earnings are the main reasons alumni of European schools studied. Work overseas was also highly rated among MBA graduates from European schools.

MBAs in Europe have more international students than schools in other regions.

* Alumni surveyed for 2022 rankings, three years after completing their programme