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QS Executive MBA Rankings 2025: POLIMI Graduate School of Management is first in Italy with its Executive MBA, the only Italian School in the global top 100

QS Executive MBA Rankings 2025 - POLIMI GSoM
30 April 2025Career

In the new 2025 edition of the QS Executive MBA Rankings, POLIMI Graduate School of Management consolidates its national leadership, confirming its 1st place in Italy thanks to the Executive MBA: the only Italian programme featured among the top 100 in the world.This recognition confirms the quality and international relevance of the programme, reinforced by significant progress in the parameters relating to students’ managerial experience and post-graduation career outcomes.

At European level, the School - part of the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano - is ranked 26th out of 72 programmes classified, up two positions from the 28th of 2024, when, moreover, there were 66 programmes analysed, while at global level, the School is ranked 76th out of 215 business schools.

Also this year, as in 2024, POLIMI Graduate School of Management’s Executive MBA is ranked first in Italy. Last year, there were four Italian schools in the rankings, but in 2025 the number increases to five, confirming the leadership position of POLIMI GSoM in the Italian and international educational landscape.

In particular, the indicators relating to students’ professional experience and results obtained after graduation stand out. The Executive Profile indicator, which evaluates students’ work and management experience, is one of the School’s strengths, as is that of  Career Outcomes, which considers the average salary increase and the percentage of students who obtain a promotion within 12 months of the end of the programme. In fact, at global level, POLIMI GSoM ranks 51st for Executive Profile and 59th for Career Outcomes, while at European level the positions are even sounder: 22nd and 32nd. Looking at the scores achieved for the individual indicators, the data confirm this positive trend. Career Outcomes goes from a score of 66 in 2024 to 70.4 in 2025 and the Executive Profile rises from 69.5 to 75.5.

Among the sub-indicators, we highlight the full score achieved under Graduates Promoted, which measures career advancement, reaching 100 in 2025 (compared to 98.6 in 2024), as well as the significant improvement in the average wage increase from 35.6 to 40.7. Excellent results were also recorded for the average work experience of the students (80.3), that relating to the C-suite (66.9) and the managerial levels (79.7).

The positioning obtained in the QS Executive MBA Rankings 2025 is further confirmation of the quality and solidity of the Executive MBA course offered by POLIMI Graduate School of Management, with a tangible impact on the professional growth of participants and an increasingly recognised presence at international level.

“This result is the fruit of our daily commitment to designing top-class training experiences which are capable of accompanying managers on a solid, concrete and long-lasting path of personal and professional growth”, said Vittorio Chiesa, President of POLIMI GSoM and Federico Frattini , Dean of POLIMI GSoM. “Confirming ourselves first in Italy, in an even more competitive context than last year, and continuing to improve in key parameters at a global level, is for us a source of great pride and confirms the quality of our Executive MBA. Improvements in areas such as student management experience and post-programme career advancements reflect not only the integrity of our offer, but also the consistency with our purpose: to train leaders who are aware, accountable, and ready to make a positive impact in organisations and society. We are determined to continue on this path of growth, facing future challenges with openness, inclusion and an increasingly international vision.”

In the general rankings, the Business School, an integral part of the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano, is placed fifth in the Europe, Middle East and Africa area and eighth worldwide. 

The QS Online MBA Rankings 2024, Quacquarelli Symonds' periodic classification of the quality of business schools at international level, confirms the excellence of the teaching provided by POLIMI Graduate School of Management, part of the Politecnico di Milano School of Management. Thanks to its International Flex MBA (Master in Business Administration) delivered in digital learning, the Milanese University’s business school ranks fifth in the Europe/Middle East/Africa area out of 34 schools evaluated. Globally, however, it ranks eighth out of 102 programmes. The recognition obtained follows by just a few weeks the equally significant acknowledgment by the Financial Times for the same Master. 

An analysis of the individual parameters on which the QS rankings are based shows the absolute primacy, for the second consecutive year, at global and regional level (Europe/Middle East/Africa) with regard to the Faculty & Teaching criterion, which includes Academic Reputation (quality of Faculty and teaching measured annually by surveys of more than 95,000 academic profiles around the world), the Faculty/Student Ratio (proportion between lecturers and students) and the Completion Rate (percentage of students who complete the Master). In these last two indicators, POLIMI GSoM obtained a score of 100/100, thus placing the School in first place again this year and confirming the best result ever since it has appeared in the rankings.

In addition to the School’s preeminence for the quality of its Faculty and teaching, QS also recognises the quality of the International Flex MBA in relation to the parameters of Class Experience (value and effectiveness of learning)and Employability (graduates’ employment return),for which it is ranked in third and sixth place respectively for the regional area of reference attributed by QS to the School.  

“Once again this year, our International Flex MBA has been confirmed as among the best in the world, strengthening our School as a global reference point in higher management education and digital learning”, commented Vittorio Chiesa and Federico Frattini, respectively President and Dean of POLIMI Graduate School of Management. “The recognition of the quality of our Faculty and teaching, in which we are first in the world according to the opinion of 95,000 international academic profiles, encourages us to continue to innovate our teaching offer. Our goal is to help train a new type of manager who is not only technically competent, but who also has an understanding of the human and social dynamics that develop in a company. The recognitions we have received in recent months motivate us to continue along the path we have taken, reinforcing our belief that our business school’s role is to train the new generations of leaders who, through their work, can contribute to building a more equitable, inclusive and responsible society.”

POLIMI Graduate School of Management has featured in the QS Online MBA Rankings since 2018, when it entered directly in 20th place in the world. Since then, it has remained a constant in the classification, already reaching the top 10 in the following year, and remaining there in the subsequent years as well. 

Powered by one of the most advanced digital learning platforms in the world, POLIMI Graduate School of Management's International Flex MBAis designed to prepare qualified and motivated managers to lead businesses in a market characterised by disruptive and rapidly evolving technologies. The duration of the Master varies from 15 to 32 months and is accessible to managers with at least 3 years of work experience, also facilitating students with a flexible programme in perfect balance with their work commitments.

POLIMI Graduate School of Management’s excellent portfolio of education includes approximately 40 Masters annually, including 7 MBAs and Executive MBAs, 300 management training programmes and various tailormade projects for companies.