The UOC has now been home to the world's best Spanish-language online MBA for four years in a row

The UOC's Executive MBA is the top Spanish-language online MBA worldwide according to the 2021 ranking of online higher education institutions (FSO Ranking) produced by consultancy firm Hamilton Global Intelligence. This year's ranking compared 200 university institutions based in Spain, Latin America and the United States and surveyed over 5,500 students and alumni.

This ranking analysed the UOC's Executive MBA, which targets professionals with a minimum five years' experience as business managers or directors who are looking to reach higher-responsibility positions dealing in innovation, business creation, international business, new project management or e-business. 

According to the programme's academic director, Ramon González Cambray, "holding on to our spot as the number one Spanish-language online MBA worldwide is the ultimate accolade for our students, graduates and the teaching and administrative staff involved in the programme. It also highlights the programme's practical and innovative nature, offering contents that participants can apply straight away to their world of work, which in turn boosts their employability and career advancement".

Also a professor and expert in company organization, strategy and innovation, González maintains that COVID-19 has had an impact on many areas, not least of which company organization and management, where it has sped up digital transformation processes. This situation is reshaping the labour and educational landscape, which is seeing a considerable upsurge in the demand for online management training that allows professionals to update their competencies while also reskilling, retooling and retraining in current trends. To meet the demand for new manager profiles in the digital environment, "it's essential to acquire a global and strategic vision focused on decision-making across a company's management areas, while identifying every opportunity to sharpen its competitive edge," González said.

Spanish university ranking

A total of 16 Spanish universities, two more than last year, have made the ranking. Topping the list for the fourth year in a row is the UOC, followed by ESADE, OBS, UNIR and ESIC. Also present are the Instituto Europeo de Postgrado (IEP) (7), Universidad Nebrija (9), La Salle-Ramon Llull University (10), Real Madrid Graduate School - Universidad Europea (11), EUDE Business School (12), Universidad Internacional de Valencia (VIU) (14), Cerem International Business School (16), Universidad Europea (17), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (19), IMF International Business School (21) and the European Open Business School (23).

Online MBAs in facts and figures

According to the FSO Ranking, the average price of an online MBA is $9,729 (€8,419). Graduates see an average 32.9% salary increase, bringing their yearly salary to $33,338 (€29,081) on average, which is up 4.12% compared with last year.

In terms of employability, the study shows that 90.2% of people taking this online MBA find a job within an average period of 5.2 weeks. 

As for teaching staff, 60.3% are men, 13.5% are international, 28.1% have a PhD and 40.1% are in managerial positions themselves. They have an average of 12.6 years' teaching experience.

The average age of students is 37, 59.9% are men, 58.3% are international students and 51.9% are taking an online MBA because they need more training to advance their careers.