Masters in Financial Management programme enters the global top 25
Results of the ‘Financial Times Global Masters in Finance 2020’ ranking
By Wouter De Maeseneire
Professor of Corporate Finance
Vlerick’s Masters in Financial Management programme has improved its position in this year’s Financial Times Global Masters in Finance Ranking by 3 spots. We are now ranked at 23 worldwide, thus entering the global top 25. On a European level, we also rise 3 places going from 22 to 19. And in the Benelux, we maintain our number 1 position. The 2020 edition of the ranking lists 56 programmes worldwide. Our CFA-accredited programme provides an excellent broad and in-depth corporate finance education, complemented with relevant managerial skills. Currently, the programme has 62 students representing 19 different nationalities.
According to Professor Wouter De Maeseneire (Director Masters programmes at Vlerick) this result is a great achievement, especially within the market of finance programmes that is now severely competitive, due to the development of new Asian business schools but also since some renowned US and European business schools have launched a specialised finance Masters.
“We are therefore very satisfied to see we could further improve our position in the ranking, which is reflective of the programme’s added value and our relentless efforts to further optimise it and keep it up to date with new trends emerging in the world of business and finance.”
The increase in our position is driven by the outstanding progress in terms of the career services we provide, for which we now rank 8th worldwide. This also spills over in our local and international students securing excellent jobs within Belgium as well as internationally. As for career status three years after graduation – which is measured according to seniority and company size – we have gone up 8 places. The successful career of our graduates is equally reflected in their salaries which have increased more compared to the average salary improvement of all other schools in the ranking.
Another explanation for our performance is the exceptionally strong scores for ‘value for money’ (12), and for ‘international course experience’ (8). On top of the finance trips to London and Amsterdam, students can opt for an extended international experience by doing their in-company consultancy project abroad or going on an exchange programme to Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.