The William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration was recently ranked 27th out of the top 100 business schools in the world by the Financial Times of London.
“We’ve remained focused on the fundamentals – excellence in scholarship and education,” Dean of the Simon School Mark Zupan said.
The ranking, published in its Jan. 24 issue, is a significant rise since last year’s ranking of 35. In addition, the rank among the best business schools in the United States has risen from 22nd place last year to 18th place this year.
“I think the reason we are ranked so high is because of our alumni,” first-year Simon School student Marco Bernobich said. “The alumni are all having great experiences and are doing really well.”
In maintaining the school’s prestige, Zupan credits the clear goals his faculty and students have set and strive to uphold.
“If anything, we want to further improve and not just maintain the latest level of excellence,” Zupan said. “To do so, we intend to continue to remain focused on the fundamentals.”
Simon School’s highly esteemed faculty includes recipients of numerous awards this year.
For example, Ross Watts, William H. Meckling Professor of Business Administration, Professor of Accounting and Finance, and Jerold Zimmerman, Ronald L. BittnerProfessor of Accounting, won the “American Accounting Association for Seminal contributions to Accounting Literature” award for their lifetime contributions to the field.
“I feel really lucky to have gotten into the Simon School,” Bernobich said. “I went to UR for undergrad. The teachers here are really good, and it’s not just because Simon is such a smaller school than other business schools.”
Aside from the faculty and their distinguished accomplishments, Zupan also commented on the quality of students currently enrolled in the Simon School. The students’ intellectual and performance levels are higher.
“The high quality of students is something the school hopes to continually secure in future classes,” Zupan said. “We invested in quality in the incoming full-time MBA class, so as to further build our school’s
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reputation. For example, our incoming MBA class this fall is up 18 GMAT points over the preceding class and has an average GPA that is 0.2 percent higher than the preceding class. We also looked carefully for the right, winning attitude while selecting students for the incoming class.”
Part of this attitude the school looks for in students is reflected in this year’s graduating class.
In comparison with the previous graduating class, this year’s class shows a commendable increase in reported internships and job offers.
As for future improvements, Zupan takes pride in having successfully secured nearly $5 million in new gifts and commitments from alumni and friends who are interested in contributing to the standard and quality of education.
In conjunction with the monetary gift, the Simon School has also hired a task force to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses and aid in the betterment of the school and its educational programs.
A strategic plan for the school is already underway and is expected to be fully implemented shortly.
Lund can be reached at slund@campustimes.org.
