FAQs

General Info
Why does the Aspen Institute conduct this survey?
Who is this program for?
How do I use this website?
How do the Beyond Grey Pinstripes rankings compare to other rankings?

Quick Facts
How often is the survey conducted?
What time period does the current survey cover?
How much information was collected in the 2010-2011 survey?
How many schools participated in 2010-2011?
Where are those schools located?

Data Collection and Ranking Methodology
Does the survey cover all business education programs?
How are the rankings determined?
Can I review the survey data?
Do you evaluate all of the data reported by schools?

General Info

Why does the Aspen Institute conduct this survey?

If the next generation of business leaders is to excel at managing enterprises for greater competitiveness, it will need the knowledge and skills to tackle not only the financial but also the social and environmental challenges faced by today’s corporations. The scope and reach of business education demands that we understand how business schools are introducing and developing the concepts of social, ethical and environmental stewardship with business students. However, most business school rankings, with their narrow emphasis on test scores and outgoing starting salaries, do not capture the ways and degree to which these concepts are being addressed. Beyond Grey Pinstripes picks up where conventional rankings leave off. The Beyond Grey Pinstripes report is intended to complement the findings of other rankings.

Beyond Grey Pinstripes has multiple goals:

• Promote and celebrate innovation in business education– the Top 100 MBA Programs Ranking call attention to institutions and faculty that do this work well.
• Inform prospective students about social, ethical and environmental impact management curricular and co-curricular programs.
• Raise the bar by challenging business schools to incorporate social and environmental impact management topics into their curricula.
• Inform corporate recruiters of business schools that are providing training in social and environmental skills as part of business decision making.
• Disseminate best practices in teaching, research, and extracurricular activities – the Search function provides access to detailed information on thousands of courses (often including syllabi), scholarly journal articles, and more.
• Facilitate conversation – Systemic change comes when students, faculty, administrators and business leaders actively discuss these issues.

Who is this program for?

Beyond Grey Pinstripes casts a broad net in an effort to promote and support schools and faculty. Prospective students, current students, alumni, faculty, administrators, corporate recruiters, business executives and a broad swath of the media can use the information and ideas available through the report and website to further their endeavors in integrating social and environmental issues into business practice. Our efforts to share best practices in teaching and research focus primarily on current and prospective students and faculty.
 

How do I use this website?

This website has a wealth of information. Here are some search suggestions:

• Take a look at our Top 100 Schools and our Top 10 Lists.
• Do a deeper dive into our School Database; learn about innovative coursework and cutting edge faculty research.
• Try suggested topic area searches for specific academic departments or subjects (e.g. Finance, Social Entrepreneurship, climate change, etc.).

How do the Beyond Grey Pinstripes rankings compare to other rankings?

The goal of Beyond Grey Pinstripes is to highlight the varying strengths of business schools as they prepare students to manage real-world challenges and make business decisions that benefit society over the long run.  Our survey is based on detailed school reporting of coursework, faculty research, and other institutional support (such as non-classroom activities and centers). While other rankings focus on tuition, starting salaries and recruiter input, the Aspen Institute’s evaluation takes a closer look at the actual content of MBA programs and what skills and knowledge students can expect to take away from their investments.

The scoring categories that the Aspen Institute uses for Beyond Grey Pinstripes are:

1. Availability of Relevant Courses (20%) counts the number of courses offered that contain social, environmental or ethical content.
2. Student Exposure (25%) measures the extent to which students are actually exposed to such content.
3. Relevant Courses on Business Impact (30%) counts the number of courses that not only demonstrate their relevance to the survey (see “Availability of Relevant Courses” above), but specifically address the intersection of social and environmental issues in mainstream, for-profit business.
4. Faculty Research (25%) counts the number of scholarly articles written by business school faculty, published in peer-reviewed, business journals in calendar years 2009 and 2010 that contain social, environmental or ethical content.

For further detail on these categories, please visit our Methodology page.

Finally, the Aspen Institute publishes this valuable coursework, research and institutional support information on the Beyond Grey Pinstripes website (www.beyondgreypinstripes.org) so that students can take a closer look at syllabi, faculty research, etc. as they evaluate schools.

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Quick Facts  

How often is the survey conducted?

The survey is conducted every two years.

What time period does the current survey cover?

The 2011-2012 survey report captures business school activities and courses in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 academic years only (August 2009– July 2011). Faculty research articles must have been published in peer-reviewed, business journals during the calendar years 2009 or 2010.

How much information was collected in the 2010-2011 survey?

We collected over 6,000 courses descriptions and a similar number of faculty research abstracts.  In addition, schools submitted information about their extracurricular activities, degree programs, and institutes and centers.

How many schools participated in 2010-2011?

149 schools from around the globe submitted data.

Where are those schools located?

The 149 schools are located in 22 countries on 6 continents.

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Data Collection and Ranking Methodology

Does the survey cover all business education programs?

The survey tracks information about accredited, full-time, in-person Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs only. We do not collect data about Executive MBA programs, part-time MBA programs, undergraduate programs, Ph.D. programs or other related degree programs. In some cases, we accept information from part-time programs that have significant full-time enrollment; however, only numbers associated with the full-time students are included in the survey.

How are the rankings determined?

Researchers at the Aspen Institute, along with a group of Ph.D. scoring fellows, evaluate survey responses using a rigorous evaluation protocol. Full details can be found on the Methodology page.

Can I review the survey data?

Most survey data are directly available via the Search function on this website.

Do you evaluate all of the data reported by schools?

Extracurricular activities play an important role in the student experience and we encourage schools to share this information during the Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey cycle. The Beyond Grey Pinstripes ranking focuses exclusively on coursework and faculty research in an effort to keep program comparisons consistent. However, we invite schools to share additional details on relevant institutional efforts and activities on campus for display on our website.