UVA Darden Climbs in New Financial Times Ranking

Darden No. 2 Public Business School in U.S., Globally No. 3 for Alumni Satisfaction and No. 1 for Carbon Footprint

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business rose in several key categories of Financial Times’ new Global MBA Ranking 2023.

Darden secured the most top ten rankings in a recent assessment from The Princeton Review.

FT’s global ranking of Full-Time MBA programs, now in its 25^th year  introduced a new methodology that retains a focus on outcomes — with new emphasis on diversity and sustainability — and business schools’ activities to engage with societal challenges.

In its composite ranking of the world’s Top 100 global business schools, Darden vaulted to the top of the category “Best for Carbon Footprint,” which assesses how schools tackle emissions. FT reported that Darden “achieved neutrality partly by guaranteeing payments for electricity generated without fossil fuels, allowing the provider a new solar plant that supplies the school.” The carbon footprint ranking is calculated using the school’s net zero target year for carbon emissions set by the university and school along with a carbon emission audit report.

Darden reached carbon neutrality in 2019 and has set ambitious sustainability targets to be reached by 2030.

In a survey of alumni satisfaction, Darden ranked No. 3 in the world, as measured by alumni three years after completing their MBA — achieving a score of 9.71 out of 10.

“While the alumni satisfaction measure is excluded from the weighting of the overall ranking, it’s a key indicator of the durability of graduates’ overall satisfaction with the MBA experience with time after graduation — which Darden emphasizes as a core part of its mission and for which the School is well-known,” said Darden Associate Dean and Chief Innovation and Student Engagement Officer Marc Johnson.

In the composite ranking, Darden is ranked the No. 2 public school in the U.S. Among all schools, Darden climbed to No. 13 in the U.S. and No. 17 globally, continuing a climb of 15 places over the last five years. These year-over-year rises were driven by carbon neutrality, strong marks in career outcomes and alumni network.

Other Top 10 global rankings in Financial Times include:

• 7 in Aims Achieved  
• 9 in Careers Services among the Top 25 schools, driven by strong career outcomes, with 96 percent of the Class of 2022 accepting a position by three months after graduation and absolute improvement in the categories of Weighted Salary and Salary Increase
• 10 for Alumni Network

Darden was also featured in the article “How to Fund your MBA studies” for its array of scholarships, including seven competitive scholarship programs. In another analysis, “Making MBA Funding Add Up in Tough Times,” an incoming student underscores the affordability of pursuing an MBA in Virginia compared to many other locations.

The FT ranking comes on the heels of a recent ranking from The Princeton Review that saw Darden ranked in the Top 10 in 11 categories — more than any other business school. A subsequent Poets & Quants analysis of the ranking declared Darden the “winner” of the ranking.