Know any famous Belgians? The Financial Times does

Just a few years ago Vlerick Leuven Management School was still one of Europeís best kept secrets in business education. Now the business school at one of the continentís oldest universities is the fastest climber in the Financial Timesí prestigious ranking of MBA programmes – up from number 97 to number 75 globally – and has entered the ëtop 20í in Europe for the first time.

According to Peter Rafferty, the director of international business at the school, this latest success is the product of a sustained push for more widespread recognition. ìWeíve now built an MBA class which draws students from over 20 countries around the world and which has one of the best balances between male and female students on the continent – 40% of our participants are women. The programme is also delivering clear benefits to its graduates – all of our last class were employed within three months of completion and saw their pay rise by an average of 66% to over $100,000.î

The diversity of the MBA class also means that its alumni have the flexibility to take advantage of international job markets that are still relatively healthy despite the global economic downturn. ìOne in ten of our MBA graduates from the 2005/2006 class now live and work in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, for example,î says Rafferty. ìThese are ex-students from as far afield as China, Slovakia, the USA and Canada who remain plugged into a network of graduates from over 30 other countries around the world.î

The rapid rise up the Financial Times ranking is mirrored in other major business school league tables. In September the Economistís ëWhich MBAí awarded Vlerick 14th place in its global listing.