Newswise — Irvine, CA - (October 25, 2018) - The UCI Paul Merage School of Business climbed in Bloomberg Businessweek’s rankings of Best Business Schools for 2018, ascending from No. 51 in the U.S. to No. 43.

“This leap in the rankings reflects our commitment to delivering a highly relevant business education that especially prepares graduates to succeed in today’s digitally driven world,” says Dean Eric Spangenberg. “Our graduates have always learned how to think strategically and drive innovation; overlaying knowledge of today’s technologies and tools promotes even better decision-making at the highest levels of any organization.”

The rankings for full-time MBA programs are based on data from surveys of recent graduates, alumni who are six to eight years into their careers and recruiters, plus class of 2017 employment statistics. Bloomberg sorts the data into four broad indexes that are combined for the final tally.

One category, compensation, is weighted the most heavily, and includes post-graduation pay and bonuses, plus the percentage of graduates employed three months after graduation.

Two other categories — networking and learning — are weighted a little less, and reflect the strength of the alumni network and career services office, the depth and range of classroom instruction and the degree of emphasis on innovation, problem solving and strategic thinking. A fourth category, entrepreneurship, is weighted the least.

The Merage School performed especially strongly in compensation and networking.

“Our career center prepares students not just for their first job after they get their MBA, but for their lifelong career progression, and that pays off with higher salaries,” says Jon Kaplan, assistant dean for the Merage School’s MBA and specialty master’s programs. “Our goal and purpose is to prepare students to lead in today’s digital economy, and you can see from the rankings that we’re following through on that.”

About The Paul Merage School of Business

The Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine offers four dynamic MBA programs – plus PhD, specialty masters and undergraduate business degrees – that prepare business leaders for our digitally driven world. Through our programs, students acquire the exceptional ability to grow their organizations through strategic innovation, analytical decision-making, digital information technology and collaborative execution. While the Merage School is relatively young, it has quickly grown to rank consistently among the top five percent of all business programs worldwide through exceptional student recruitment, world-class faculty, a strong alumni network and close relationships with both individual business executives and global corporations. Additional information is available at merage.uci.edu.

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