As the Financial Times released its 2025 Executive Education Rankings in May, a clearer picture is emerging—one that values outcomes over optics, and substance over status.
Top executive education programs are no longer judged solely by prestige or academic reputation—they must deliver transformational impact, global agility and razor-sharp relevance.
“In 2025, learning and development decision-makers are laser-focused on return on investment—not just in financial terms, but in time, relevance and transformation,” says Bryan Benjamin, executive director of the Ivey Academy, part of Ivey Business School in Canada. “Our clients want learning that translates into impact.”
That sentiment echoes across the world’s leading executive education providers, where the bar has risen for both content and delivery. Executives expect personalized learning experiences that address real-time challenges.
Rankings still matter—but they’re just a starting point
Executives may begin their search with rankings, but as Véronique Tran, executive vice-president for executive education at ESCP Business School, notes, they’re quick to dig deeper.
“One of their top three criteria, executives value well-ranked programs that are recognized and appreciated by top employers,” Tran says. “But once this criteria is met, candidates dig deeper.”
Course format, network quality, faculty excellence, customisation, and cross-cultural exposure are among their top considerations.
Balance is essential, as many learners manage intense professional roles alongside study. This is why many executive education providers, including ESCP, have adapted their offerings to include flexible, modular formats. They hope that this flexibility will help executives reflect on their day-to-day work life.
“Executives want both academic credibility and real-world insights… bridging the gap between academia and industry,” Tran adds.
Anne Fessan, director of custom programs at France’s EDHEC Business School, notes that, at the end of the day, business leaders demand high-level insight on the challenges they encounter every day. “The best executive programs no longer focus solely on knowledge transfer or best practices,” she says. “What leaders value most now is the ability to sharpen their strategic thinking, sustain clarity in ambiguity and expand their capacity to act decisively.”
The new currency: Relevance and ROI
This evolution is visible across geographies and sectors. At the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden, Katarina Hägg, CEO of executive education, sees a premium placed on relevance and impact.
“Any program needs to consider the quickly shifting geopolitical and economic landscape and ensure that content helps executives navigate and address uncertainties,” she says. “It also needs to secure both immediate impact and long-term results.”
The emphasis, increasingly, is on practical application—insights that are useful on Monday morning, not just in theory.
While individual learners are demanding more from programs, corporate clients are just as discerning — and their influence shapes curriculum design, delivery modes and even faculty selection.
As Hägg notes: “Our clients expect customized learning journeys that can be adapted to their specific needs regarding both content and delivery, and we are working in an agile way… to provide that kind of partnership.”
At Ivey, co-creation is front and centre. “We’re co-creating with clients, weaving in live cases and focusing on issues like AI leadership, sustainability and geopolitical disruption,” says Benjamin.
EDHEC’s Fessan, too, draws a distinction between passive learning and the kind of rigorous, adaptive development that executive clients need today:
“Leadership agility—the capacity to read complex systems, pivot responsibly and lead with clarity—can’t be downloaded like a software update,” Fessan says. “It requires consistency, repetition, exposure to challenge and reflective space over time.”
Today’s world: A global executive education landscape
While the US and Europe remain executive education strongholds, the FT rankings demonstrate that demand is growing rapidly in emerging markets.
“We’re seeing accelerated momentum in regions such as ASEAN, China, India and the Middle East,” says ESCP’s Tran. “Executives in these markets are increasingly seeking learning experiences that combine global perspective with regional relevance.”
Benjamin points to similar patterns: “In Hong Kong, there’s a strong appetite for leadership development that balances global frameworks with local business dynamics—especially in family enterprise and digital transformation. In the Gulf, demand is increasingly tied to national transformation agendas.”
Hägg highlights a particularly notable trend within Europe itself: “We are experiencing a surge of the interest in Nordic leadership and Nordic innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems… [with] a leadership philosophy that is well adapted to the uncertain conditions we are experiencing today.”
Yet while opportunity abounds, some providers remain cautious about overcommitting to one geographic pivot.
“As a European-based institution, we are already navigating high demand locally and across borders,” says Fessan. “2025 may well reveal new dynamics — but for now, we remain cautious about declaring a structural pivot toward non-European markets.”
If the FT rankings reflect anything in 2025, it’s that top executive education programs are no longer defined solely by classroom theory or brand cachet. They are defined by transformation. Relevance. Agility. And above all, measurable impact.
And in a world where decision-makers scrutinize both reputation and return, the executive education rankings themselves are evolving to capture these new priorities.
