India, September 16, 2025.
To help professionals grow their networks and open doors to new opportunities, LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, has launched its third annual list of Top MBA programs, ranking the top 100 global business schools that support long-term career growth. This list comes at a time when the share of senior leaders holding an MBA has gone up by 32%, and entrepreneurs holding the degree are up 87% since 2010 on LinkedIn.
The Indian School of Business rose to #5 from #6 last year, while Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad moved up to #17 from #19. New entrants, IIM-Calcutta and IIM-Bangalore ranked #16 and #20, respectively. Stanford University retained its top spot on the global list for another year, followed by Harvard University (#2), INSEAD (#3), and the University of Pennsylvania (#4). Each program on the list was evaluated based on five key pillars: hiring and demand, ability to advance, network strength, leadership potential, and diversity, to determine the ones that best set their alumni for career growth.
Nirajita Banerjee, Senior Managing Editor and Career Expert, LinkedIn News India said, “Choosing an MBA is one of the most important investments you’ll make in yourself. Curriculum is one part, but the networks, confidence, and sense of possibility that come with an MBA can shape your career for decades. Our data shows the right program can accelerate growth, open new doors, and build communities that support you long after graduation. With this list, we hope to give aspiring students and professionals a clearer view of where they can find that blend of skills and support, so they can make decisions that set them up to grow, lead, and thrive.”
Madan Pillutla, Dean and Professor, Indian School of Business said, “An MBA is the best degree for someone looking to accelerate their career, broaden their horizons, and unlock leadership opportunities across various sectors. At ISB, our one-year PGP not only imparts skills, but also fosters learnability which is needed to thrive in a changing world. We also aim to build the confidence of our students to lead with purpose. The growing community of over 20,000 ISB alumni worldwide is a testament to how the PGP programme continues to enrich their journeys well beyond the classroom.”
Here are the Top 20 institutions featured in the LinkedIn Top MBA global list for 2025:
| 1 | Stanford University |
| 2 | Harvard University |
| 3 | INSEAD |
| 4 | University of Pennsylvania |
| 5 | Indian School of Business |
| 6 | Northwestern University |
| 7 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 8 | Dartmouth College |
| 9 | Columbia University |
| 10 | University of London |
| 11 | University of Chicago |
| 12 | University of Oxford |
| 13 | Duke University |
| 14 | Yale University |
| 15 | University of California, Berkeley |
| 16 | Indian Institute of Management – Calcutta |
| 17 | Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad |
| 18 | University of Virginia |
| 19 | Cornell University |
| 20 | Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore |
Here are tips from Nirajita on how professionals pursuing an MBA can boost their career prospects:
- Collect connections, not just credits: Treat networking as a core part of your curriculum. Proactively build your community by attending events and strengthening your LinkedIn network by adding people as you meet them.
- Master the art of collaboration: Embrace the team-based nature of your program. View every group project as a live workshop to refine essential soft skills like communication, leadership, and collaborative problem-solving.
- Document your skill-building journey: Begin building your professional brand by posting on LinkedIn about the practical and transferable skills you pick up while studying. Sharing what you’re passionate about demonstrates expertise and attracts a relevant network.
- Look beyond classroom learning: Actively participate in competitions, cultural or sports activities and join student clubs. These aren’t just extracurriculars, they are vital training grounds for honing your presentation skills and building a compelling track record of achievement.
- Apply learning in real time: Seek internships, leadership roles, and part-time opportunities alongside your studies to gain practical edge.This applied experience will help you stand apart from the crown upon graduation.
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Methodology:
The Top MBA Programs methodology is based exclusively on LinkedIn data. There are five key pillars:
- Hiring and demand tracks job placement rates and labor market demand, focusing on recent graduate cohorts from 2019-2024. This assessment is based on LinkedIn hiring data and recruiter InMail outreach data.
- Ability to advance measures promotion rates among recent graduate cohorts, in addition to how quickly alumni have reached director or VP-level leadership roles.
- Network strength measures network depth, or how connected alumni of the same program are to each other; network quality of recent graduate cohorts, measured by connections to director-level professionals or higher; and the network growth rate of recent cohorts since starting the program.
- Leadership potential measures the percentage of alumni with post-MBA C-Suite or entrepreneurship experiences.
- Diversity measures gender parity within recent graduate cohorts.
