CONTACT: GEORGE MCCRORY
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Iowa City IA 52242
(319) 384-0012; fax (319) 384-0024
e-mail: george-mccrory@uiowa.edu

Release: Sept. 22, 2000

Business Week ranks University of Iowa MBA program among top 50 schools

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- In its bi-annual guide to business schools, Business Week ranked the Henry B. Tippie School of Management's MBA program among the top 50 in the nation.

Business Week ranks the top 30 business schools numerically and the next 20 as a group. The University of Iowa MBA program appeared in this group, as it did in the 1998 ranking

Business Week ranked the schools based on responses from student and employer surveys. Graduates were asked to rate their schools on such issues as teaching quality, program content, and career placement. Recruiters assessed the skills of the students and ranked business schools on their overall quality and the success rate of graduates in their organizations.

"We are delighted to be recognized in the top 50 of Business Week's 2000 ranking of the best business schools. This is a significant achievement, because full-time MBA programs are in a very competitive market. Many of our competitors are private schools with no undergraduate business programs, so this allows them to focus all their attention and resources on the their graduate programs," said Gary Gaeth, associate dean of MBA programs in the Tippie School of Management.

Lance Golinghorst, a second-year MBA student and vice president of the UI MBA Association, said the top 50 ranking puts the UI program in the top 20 percent of schools in the U.S.

"This creates inroads for national publicity, which enhances our reputation in the national arena," he said. "Student input plays a large part in the survey, so this ranking is a testament to last year's class who felt satisfied with their experience."

The Tippie School works hard to provide a quality MBA program for the 165 students enrolled in the full-time program and the 702 students enrolled in the executive and evening programs. The Tippie School has continued to devote resources to recruiting, retaining and supporting its MBA students. "We are recruiting the best candidates, adding value to students' education while at the university, and supporting them as they enter the employment arena," Gaeth said, adding that the UI full-time MBA is a great value, with tuition among the lowest in the Big Ten.

Over the past three years, the Tippie School has invested about $750,000 to upgrade its educational technology resources. It has added and upgraded lab and classroom computers, and students can check out notebook computers in the library. A wireless local area network has been installed, along with a new server for student projects and a network lab for management information science students. The Stead Advanced Learning Technologies Center assists faculty in developing course materials and Web-based learning sites. Financial data via Bridge Telerate and Bloomberg are available in the library and Advanced Real-time Information Center, and a dedicated marketing lab allows students to use scanned data and geographic information systems.

According to UI MBA Career Services, placement also improved for the class of 2000 year with 100 percent of UI MBA students having job commitments within a month after graduation. The average starting salary for a May 2000 graduate of the UI MBA program was $73,836, up 12 percent from 1999. The average salary increase for graduates from their pre-MBA salary was 172 percent. The income class of 2000 is the strongest ever coming with improved admission scores and nearly five years work experience; students from 11 different countries are represented in the class.

Practical experience during the program is emphasized, with 97 percent of the May 2000 graduating MBA class being placed in internships, consulting positions, or international study programs last summer.

Business Week, which has been evaluating business schools since 1988 by surveys of the customers of MBA programs -- graduates and corporate recruiters. The magazine sent questionnaires to 16,843 MBA graduates of the class of 2000 at 82 schools, 15 of them outside the U.S. Business Week also sent surveys to 419 companies that recruit MBAs, including a larger number of high-tech and Internet companies to reflect the changes in the business landscape. Of those polled, 10,039 students and 247 companies responded. Student and recruiter survey results are weighted equally.
In addition, for the first time this year, Business Week also measured the power and quality of ideas -- the intellectual capital -- generated by B-school faculties, which accounted for 10 percent of each school's rankings.

For the complete Business Week rankings see http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/00/.

For more information about the UI MBA program, see http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/mba/ or call (319) 335-1039.