BusinessWeek Ranks Smith School MBA Program Among Nation’s Best

College Park, Md. – November 14, 2008 - The MBA program at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business emerges as the best in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore region and an impressive No. 3 in the United States for research in BusinessWeek’s 2008 survey of “The Best B-schools.” The rankings, which are published every other year, were based on a survey of the graduating class of 2008, a survey of corporate recruiters and a measure of “intellectual capital” – the number of faculty articles published in a list of top 20 academic journals. Smith is ranked No. 26 in the United States and No. 3 in the intellectual capital category. BusinessWeek has consistently ranked Smith among the nation's best since 1998.
 
“This ranking reflects our top intellectual capital and the profound influence that Smith faculty are having on evolving business models in an era of transformation and change,” said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “As Wall Street moves closer to Washington, D.C., and business becomes more closely tied social, as well as economic, value creation – the impact of our students, alumni, faculty and programs will continue to grow within and without the region.”
 
BusinessWeek’s “The Best B-schools” ranking of full-time MBA programs is based on three elements: a survey of newly minted MBAs, a poll of corporate recruiters, and an evaluation of faculty research output. The MBA survey, which measures satisfaction with all aspects of the B-school experience, is combined with two previous MBA surveys, for a total pool of more than 20,000 responses over six years. The corporate poll, which asks recruiters to identify the schools that produce the best graduates, is also combined with two previous recruiter surveys, for a total of nearly 700 responses. Finally,BusinessWeek tallies the number of articles published by each school’s faculty in 20 top journals and reviews of their books in three national publications. The total for faculty size is then adjusted and an intellectual-capital rating is assigned for each school. The MBA surveys and the recruiter polls each contribute 45 percent to the final ranking, with the intellectual-capital ranking contributing the final 10 percent.

About the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 13 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, executive MS, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations on three continents — North America, Europe and Asia.