Twenty years ago, there were 57 US business schools in the top 100 of the FT Global MBA Ranking, including 8 of the top 10. In 2015 there were 50, with 6 in the top 10. And last year, US schools made up 41 of the places in the list of 100. Only 3 US schools – Wharton, Columbia and MIT Sloan – featured in the top 10. Harvard Business School fell to its lowest ever position of #13, while Stanford GSB was missing for the first time since the FT MBA ranking launched in 1999.

Will this trend continue? With a methodology that attributes 22% of the ranking to diversity, ESG teaching and carbon footprint, a growing number of US schools feel that current domestic policy is stacking the odds against them.

BlueSky Thinking imagines a scenario in February 2026 when the USA boycotts the MBA Olympics.

The Rankings Without Uncle Sam

It’s happened. In a move that sent cappuccinos flying across consulting firms from Canary Wharf to Kuala Lumpur, every US business school has pulled out of the Financial Times MBA Ranking 2026. Not just Stanford (they were the first to bail last year, after all). Not just the Ivy League darlings like Wharton or Columbia. But all of them. Poof. Gone.

The 2026 FT Global MBA Ranking is, for the first time in its multi-decade history, entirely American-free. And it’s not an error. It’s not a clerical mishap or a Google Sheet gone rogue. It’s a coordinated cold shoulder from across the pond. The Ivy League has left the Linkedin group.

And the result? The most deliciously unhinged and geopolitically curious ranking we’ve seen in years.

A World Cup Of Football Not Soccer

INSEAD, now free of East Coast shadows, grabs #1 and doesn’t even have to pretend to be humble about it. Champagne flows from Fontainebleau to Singapore. Their alumni WhatsApp chat is in meltdown.

London Business School vaults into #2 with the energy of a side that’s spent decades losing on penalties and finally gets a trophy. After all, with the Americans gone, LBS is now the Anglophone safe bet for banking dreams and BCG badges. The UK now boasts five schools – LBS, Oxford Saïd, Cambridge Judge, Imperial Business School and Alliance Manchester in the world’s top 25.

IESE, HEC Paris, ESADE, IE and IMD bask in the limelight. These schools, long ranked just below the dollar-powered titans of the US, now flex their global creds and ESG swagger like never before. Hell, even SDA Bocconi starts referring to itself as “Europe’s Wharton” in press releases. Bold.

Asia steps up too. CEIBS plants a firm foot in the top 10. Nanyang and NUS both leapfrog into the conversation, thanks to regionally explosive salary growth and a general vibe of “we told you Asia was the future.”

The plethora of business schools from India make the FT’s League Table look like the IPL, and the Indian Institutes of Management are thinking of renaming from IIM to M11.

There is relief for Canadian business schools, which in 2025 all languished in the bottom quartile of the FT league table. In a stroke UT Rotman, Queen’s Smith and Western Ivey find themselves catapulted into the top 50.

And for the full-time MBA programs previously squeezed out of the FT top 100, including Copenhagen Business School, Grenoble EM, Polimi GSM, University of Glasgow Adam Smith and Porto Business School, they can all proudly share their new-found global recognition on Linkedin.

Suddenly, the FT MBA Ranking looks less like an American-centric spreadsheet of earnings and more like a post-globalisation Eurovision final – with a mix of European polish, Asian innovation, and a glaring lack of Hollywood.

But Why Did the US Schools Walk Out?

Let’s rewind. Last year, Stanford GSB was glaringly absent. Officially, it was about because not enough alumni responded to the FT survey. You can’t expect the future leaders of the tech industry to check their email.

This year, anacronyms are to blame. Let’s start with ESG. That’s right—Environmental, Social and Governance criteria, firmly embedded in the FT ranking methodology, doesn’t sit well with the US administration.

Whether your gleaming, multi-billion-dollar campus is less carbon neutral or more carbon indulgent, ESG scoring gets awkward when your state governor is threatening to cut federal funding. The FT wants schools to cough up carbon zero targets but ends up with zero.

And then there’s DEI – the diversity metrics on students, faculty and board representation. USC Marshall and Wharton may have led the way on gender balance in the MBA classroom, but now contend with an entire country that is out of balance.

Harvard hasn’t exactly struggled to fill seats. Stanford grads still get $250k offers thrown at them before the ink dries on their OPT. And the FT’s globally-minded methodology doesn’t help their cause.

American MBA programs, already bruised by declining domestic applications and bruising tuition fee headlines, have started asking: “Do we even need the FT ranking anymore?”

So, in a historic moment of MBA solidarity, the US schools ghosted the FT.

What This Means for Candidates

Let’s be honest: MBA rankings were always as much theatre as analysis. And this year’s FT production is the kind of plot twist that would make Netflix jealous.

For candidates? It depends.

• International students looking for ROI and rapid salary jumps now see a stage cleared for European and Asian players. Schools that used to claim on Linkedin that they were “top 10… but behind the Americans” are now the top 10.
• Applicants dead set on the US still apply to the Harvards and Booths of the world. Rankings or no rankings, those brands aren’t disappearing.
• The ranking-agnostic crowd—those seeking entrepreneurial hubs, ESG alignment, or geographic fit—may find the 2026 list more useful than ever.

Because here’s the spicy irony: in removing the US, the FT has accidentally created a ranking that better reflects the rest of the world.

The Rise of a Different Kind of MBA

One byproduct of this American exit? The schools that remain are now under more pressure to actually perform on things like ESG, international mobility, and carbon impact. Without the gravitational pull of the US elite, the field is more competitive—and arguably more accountable.

INSEAD, LBS, and IESE are no longer fighting for silver behind the M7’s blinding salary stats. They’re the gold standard now.

Expect schools to trumpet their ESG credentials louder. Expect Asia to gain more ground. And expect prospective MBAs to get savvier – not just chasing salary, but value, impact, and sustainability.

Final Whistle

The 2026 FT MBA Ranking is bizarre, thrilling, and maybe… necessary. A global ranking that’s more global than ever (US schools excepted). A table less about prestige and more about purpose. A reshuffle that forces candidates – and schools – to think differently.

The Americans might come back next year. They might not. But for now, the rest of the world has the stage.

Rankings, bloody hell.

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