The University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) has, for the thirteenth year running, retained its top spot as the leading African and South African business school providing executive education programmes. The announcement was made earlier this week as part of the prestigious annual UK Financial Times (FT) Executive Education rankings, a global benchmark.

Ranked at number 43, GIBS is one of the top 15% of an estimated 300 leading business schools globally that compete for a position on the executive education rankings. GIBS is the only African business school ranked in the top 50, just below Cambridge Judge Business School.

The customised ranking relies on a survey of business schools' top clients who are invited to complete an online survey about the school that nominated them. In GIBS's case, clients who participated in the survey comprised not only leading South African corporates but also top multinationals operating across Africa and abroad.

Business schools are also ranked according to other criteria, including preparation, programme design, teaching methods and materials, faculty diversity, new skills and learning, facilities as well as women clients.

Ms Meeta Dullabh, Director: Custom Programmes at GIBS said: 'In our customer-centric approach, our priority is meeting our clients' development needs. This ranking is an affirmation that the job we set out to do is of a global standard.' GIBS prides itself on providing high-quality business and management education in a rapidly changing, and competitive business environment. 'To be ranked among the top 50 leading business schools globally, the only school in Africa to be ranked, for the thirteenth year in a row, is a testament to the quality of education that we offer,' added Ms Dullabh.

'We make a concerted effort to continually improve our programmes and ensure that we deliver quality executive education that has a lasting impact. We are very pleased that GIBS was again recognised as a top-ranking business school for executive education. We believe that this ranking shows that our clients see value in our programmes,' concluded Professor Nicola Kleyn, Dean of GIBS.