APCOM

Milano's Sda Bocconi School of Management (SDA standing for 'Scuola di Direzione Aziendale') is fifth in Europe and 15th in the world among business schools, according to the 10th annual Financial Times survey of non-degree executive education programmes. The rankings are a result of answers to two types of inquiries: telephone interviews and an online survey completed by each participating institute. Last year 15,000 people enrolled in Sda Bocconi, which gained one position at a European level and six positions in the international classification compared to 2007.

As for the latest, Harward Business School is still the best one, followed by Switzerland IMD and Duke University, while the Milanese one (15th) precedes the prestigious London Business school. In order to draft its rankings, the Financial Times uses 32 parameters, 21 of which based on students' assessments. Half of these parameters are necessary to evaluate the quality of open enrolment programmes, which are open to employees from any company or organisation. The other half concerns customised programmes, which are tailor-made for organisations that want to offer specific training to employees.

Sda Bocconi's improvement is the outcome of a rise in both categories: as a matter of fact, it earns five positions as for the former and even nine as for customised programmes, which are the fastest-growing market segment all over the world. "The result is particularly remarkable because of two reasons" said Alberto Grando, Sda Bocconi's director. "First of all because it confirms that we've been growing for some years. Also because the recognition arrives when Sda Bocconi is offering a wide range of courses, which are more and more international and often organised in collaboration with other university institutions."