The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University is the top ranked MBA school in the US and hence the world. What makes this small school in near Chicago the leader? It puts the student first not only in how it teaches them but in every way - not the least in helping them get work. After all that is why students get an MBA.
Here is a snip from the Economist
Although MBA rankings have forced every business school to pay closer attention to what its students want, Kellogg is still the standard-setter, and Mr Jain is working hard to keep it so. He continues, part-time, to teach, not least to keep personal contact with students. In response to the tough job market for MBAs, he has devoted far more of his time to deepening links with potential employers. More than ever, job-placement rates and starting salaries are keen points of competition among business schools. Mr Jain's efforts to find work for students compare favourably with those of some of his counterparts. His staff struggle to keep up with the pace at which he roams the globe building the “Kellogg brand”. Perhaps his top priority has been to strengthen Kellogg's alumni network, which still lags behind those of Harvard, Wharton and Stanford, both as a source of funds and, increasingly important now, of jobs for graduates.Some of Mr Jain's rivals are imitating this strategy. As Ted Snyder, dean of the University of Chicago's business school, concedes, alumni who are enthusiastic about maintaining strong ties to their school often do an alma mater more good than the ruthless, cold-blooded capitalists for which the University of Chicago is famed. Mr Snyder now wants to make Chicago, too, a more caring place. Other deans are in damage-control mode. Wharton, down in the rankings, has revamped its career-services office and is trying to cheer up its downcast faculty.
A lesson for UPEI and Holland College here on PEI. The more we get behind our students, the better we will all do. Student centred education will beat out the big boys who stay institution centred.