Executive MBA graduates see steady salary growth in FT 2025 ranking

The rise in EMBA salaries comes even as earnings from traditional MBAs and online programmes stagnated or fell – standing at US$180,000 vs US$150,000 in 2025.

Salaries for graduates of leading Executive MBA (EMBA) programmes grew steadily over the past year, according to the Financial Times’ 2025 Executive MBA Ranking. The survey placed the Washington University-Fudan EMBA programme at the top for the first time.

The average base salary for graduates three years after completing a top 100 EMBA rose 4.4% to nearly $230,000. By contrast, earnings for online MBA graduates remained flat at US$180,000, while those with traditional MBAs fell 3.2% to US$150,000.

The EMBA, typically pursued part-time by experienced professionals across multiple countries, continues to attract students despite a decline in employer-sponsored fees. Only 19% of students now have their course fully funded externally, while the share of self-funded participants has increased from 39% to 54% over the past decade.

Michael Desiderio, Head of the Executive MBA Council, said demand for the qualification is stable. His survey of business school members showed average class sizes of just over 58 in 2025, compared with 57 over the past five years. Average completed applications per class were 118, remaining largely unchanged from 119 in previous years.

The FT evaluated a total of 129 EMBA programmes, of which 100 were included in the final ranking. Rankings are based on alumni earnings, career progression, and high-quality research, among other metrics. Participation is voluntary, and schools must hold AACSB or Equis accreditation.

Chinese and Hong Kong-based schools performed strongly on earnings adjusted for international purchasing power parity, with six of the top-earning programmes located partly or wholly in the region.

Globally, here are the 30 top-ranked EMBA programmes:

Find out the full rankings here.