The quality of business schools in Africa and the emerging markets is increasingly being recognised by international employers

In a world that is growing more integrated by the year, the importance of future business leaders having an international outlook cannot be underestimated, according to the QS Global 200 Business Schools Report 2012.

The report shows that in their quest to ensure MBA students are given the international exposure needed to operate in the heavily globalized world, many business schools place a high importance on international class diversity.

European business schools are particularly good at attracting an internationally diverse applicant pool, which translates into high percentages of international diversity in their MBA classes. Employers clearly value this, as is represented by many European schools scoring well in the index of employer votes shown in the international management rating.

Many business schools in Asia are struggling to attract international students to their programs, particularly in mainland China and India. With such globally influential economies, this is an area that some schools will need to work on in order to ensure that the region’s future business leaders are able to operate in the internationalized environment that they are needed in.

Business schools in Asia are for the most part still very much in the developing stages and the rapid rise in the number of schools meeting the criteria for the QS Global 200 Business Schools Report in recent years has been impressive, and points to a fast-paced increase in the quality of the region’s MBA programs which are increasingly being recognized by international employers. Since 2004, 26 extra business schools based in the Asia-Pacific region have achieved an index of employer vote score high enough for inclusion in the report, bringing the total number of schools from the region to 36.

Though at an even earlier stage of development, institutions from Latin America and Africa and the Middle East are also showing promise in terms of employer opinion of their graduates. In Latin America, the fast-growing economies of Brazil and Chile have encouraged MBA employers to consider hiring from business schools located there. While in Africa and the Middle East, government investment and political change is likely to attract more schools to the region.

Recent months have seen huge public protests around the world against the perceived greed of many high-level business executives and the organizations they run, with some business schools receiving a degree of blame for failing to teach corporate social responsibility (CSR) in their programs. MBA programs have evolved and business schools constantly alter their MBA programs in order to reflect the needs of global business and the world they operate in, and the trend of an increased emphasis in the nurturing of CSR values is reflective of that.

Innovation and entrepreneurship have become greatly valued by MBA employers around the world. The two specializations, which are so closely linked that some business schools merge the two fields into one department, are also valued by governments as they look to business innovation and the entrepreneurial mindset of future business leaders to create economical growth during a tough economic climate. In Europe in particular, MBA graduates with innovative and entrepreneurial ideas in the field of finance will be of great use in helping the continent to avoid its own ‘Lehman moment’, which if it happens could plunge the global economy into previously uncharted financial difficulties.

European business schools continue to be at the forefront of innovation in business education, ensuring they attract top international talent which in turn attracts global MBA employers. Despite the economic woes of the region, 2011 has been a record year for employment statistics among European business schools, which are supplying MBA talent not just to local employers in the region, but also employers across Asia, the Americas and the Middle East.

After a relatively slow adoption of MBA studies in Europe for the first 40 years after the Second World War, the last two decades has seen an explosion in the number of schools. The continent now hosts MBA programs in practically all of its countries.

Today, Europe has a large cluster of top-rated business schools, challenging the hegemony of US schools. The schools that take up the top 10 places have a longstanding and established reputation. These business schools consistently remain in the top 10 places, signifying a long-standing respect among employers of each institution’s MBA graduates.

INSEAD was named the top European business school for MBAs, according to the list compiled from research among employers. London Business School came second and Oxford’s Said Business School third in the European section of the annual QS Global Business Schools Report, which asks which business schools employers prefer to hire from.

The UK remains the leader in Europe, in terms of employer opinion of MBA graduates. The majority of business schools featured in the European business school rating are from the UK – a total of 22 out of 67 schools (33%). Furthermore, the UK is the country with the largest amount of business schools in the top cluster, with a total of four schools: London Business School, Said Business School, Judge Business School and Imperial College Business School.

Spain and France also have numerous business schools that are favoured by employers to hire MBA graduates from. Spain has three business schools in the top cluster – IESE, IE Business School and Esade Business School - while France has two: INSEAD and HEC Paris. The hiring preferences of employers are reflective of the top three European destinations for MBA study among prospective students. According to the latest QS TopMBA.com Applicant Survey, 46% of prospective students want to take their MBA in the UK, 24% in France and 21% in Spain.

While German business schools are relatively young compared to other institutions in Europe, schools in the country are growing increasingly popular among employers. Though the majority of the business schools in Germany are in the second and third clusters, seven schools from the country feature in the European rating. Furthermore, a sample of over 40 companies in Germany indicates a 27% rise in MBA demand in 2011.

The business schools in this year’s rating for the Africa and Middle East region have all featured in previous years. Three out of five of the schools – University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, American University in Cairo, University of Stellenbosch Business School, The Suliman S. Olayan School of Business (American University of Beirut), University of Witswatersrand - are located in South Africa. There are many more business schools across the African continent, but management education is still in its infancy and it will take many years before these schools achieve real prominence on the international stage.

In general terms, business education in the Middle East is in the very early stages of development. However, with the region looking to diversify its economy away from a strong reliance on the extraction and trade of natural resources, countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are investing in attracting management education providers from abroad to help train local business leaders and future-proof their economies.