The University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS Business School) again achieved the top ranking among South African and African business schools in the annual UK Financial Times executive education rankings announced earlier this month. The Financial Times survey presents a global benchmark for providers of executive education and GIBS has now been ranked among the top business schools worldwide for 11 consecutive years.

The survey is compiled using data from two sets of online surveys – one for business schools themselves and another for clients. Business schools are asked for details of a number of top clients, who are then invited to complete an online survey about the school that nominated them. For GIBS, clients who participated in the survey were leading South African corporates and top multinationals operating in the rest of Africa and abroad.

This year, GIBS’s executive education rose to number 42 worldwide, one up from its 43rd combined executive education ranking last year. GIBS also remains the only business school in Africa and the Middle East in the global top 50. ‘This is once again a tremendous achievement for GIBS and highlights the international standing of our programmes as we continue to be [ranked] among the best business schools in the world,’ says Professor Nick Binedell, dean at GIBS.

‘At GIBS we continue to strive to significantly improve the performance of individuals and organisations through business education and this ranking affirms that as a business school we are making an impact. We look forward to continuing to enhance the quality of our programmes in a tough and ever changing economic landscape,’ he added.

The Financial Times executive education rankings are a combination of the rankings of two types of programme, namely customised programmes, which are developed in line with company-specific needs, and open programmes, which are intensive executive development programmes open to the public.

‘The feedback we receive from such surveys is invaluable as it allows us to constantly ensure that our programmes meet the highest standards possible on a global scale. We are proud to have a team of high-performing individuals who are committed to building partnerships with our clients as part of the impact we continually aim for. Particularly pleasing is [the fact] that we are delivering programmes for leading global multinationals, such as BP, Nokia, Ericsson, Hewlett Packard and IBM, across the continent and, more recently, leading African firms such as Kenya Airways in Kenya and NMB bank in Tanzania,’ added Shaun Rozyn, director for executive education at GIBS.