Corporate Knights Ranks Gonzaga No. 29 in Better World MBA
SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga University’s Master of Business Administration program is No. 29 in the Corporate Knights 2021 Better World MBA Ranking, maintaining its top 30 position and again recognizing its emphasis on sustainability in course content and faculty research.
Only seven U.S. programs are ranked higher than Gonzaga. Corporate Knights named Griffith Business School, Australia, No. 1 in the 19th annual list.
Gonzaga’s MBA programs enroll about 150 students. Of those students, approximately 70% are working professionals.
“As part of our Jesuit identity, we are called by our mission statement to educate students ‘for lives of leadership and service for the common good’ and ‘with responsible stewardship of our physical, financial, and human resources,’ ” said Mirjeta Beqiri, director of GU’s MBA programs and a professor of operations management. “This ranking highlights the commitment of the MBA programs and the School of Business Administration to further this mission toward making the world a better place. It speaks to the dedicated efforts by our faculty and students for a more sustainable world.”
The Gonzaga MBA combines small class sizes, internationally recognized educators, a faculty-led study abroad program, community-engaged courses, and a relevant curriculum to tailor the student experience for individual goals and flexibility. The program offers concentrations in finance and project management, as well as a general MBA with a variety of elective options.
To determine the rankings, Corporate Knights evaluated 147 MBA programs, including the 2021 Financial Times 100 Global MBA programs, all that made the 2020 Top 40 in the Corporate Knights Better World MBA list, and select MBA programs accredited by AMBA, AACSB or EQUIS and/or signatories of the Principles for Responsible Management Education that opted in for evaluation.
From this universe, programs were evaluated across key performance indicators including core course integration of sustainability, research publications per faculty member on sustainability topics in calendar year 2020, percent of total faculty publications in 2020 on sustainability topics, number of citations per faculty for those publications, sustainability-focused research institutes and centers, faculty gender diversity and faculty racial diversity.
Rankings and details of the evaluation method are available on Corporate Knights’ website.
In 2020, Corporate Knights discovered a noticeable uptick in faculty research and core courses centered on sustainability; this trend accelerated in 2021.
“These developments reflect greater demand from students to train for meaningful work to help solve the serious social and environmental problems that threaten our common future,” a Corporate Knights news release said.
“Every MBA program in the world should be instilling holistic purpose in leaders, ensuring they have the skills, tools and values to build a more inclusive, healthier economy that’s beneficial to society and in harmony with the natural world, and the Better World business schools are leading the way,” said Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights.
Founded in 2002, Corporate Knights Inc. is a Toronto-based, employee-owned media and investment research firm that includes the sustainable business magazine Corporate Knights and a research division that produces proprietary rankings and financial product ratings based on corporate sustainability performance, including the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World.
Gonzaga’s School of Business Administration, celebrating its centennial, was founded in 1921 to help stock a fledgling city with business leaders, bankers, accountants and professionals in economics, finance and trade. The first formal degree was a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1930. The first master’s degree came in 1961. This year, Gonzaga’s part-time MBA program is ranked 46th by U.S. News and World Report.