UPF-BSM’s MBA, Master’s in Supply Chain Management and Master’s in Data Analytics enter the QS Global MBA & Business Masters Ranking for the first time

• UPF Barcelona School of Management expands its presence to all six Graduate Management Education categories assessed by QS, becoming the only business school affiliated with a Spanish public university represented in all of them
• The Master in Supply Chain Management ranks as the second-best in Spain and 57th in the world in its category
• The MBA ranks 42nd in Europe, placing it among the continent’s Top 50 MBA programmes
• The ranking places five of the school’s programmes among the Top 5 nationally in their respective categories

UPF Barcelona School of Management (UPF-BSM) has entered three new categories in the QS Global MBA & Business Masters Ranking 2027, an international ranking that assesses leading Business master’s programmes offered by business schools and universities worldwide. For the first time, the school’s programmes have been ranked in the Global MBA, Supply Chain Management and Business Analytics categories. The programmes newly included in this year’s edition are the Full-Time MBA in Spanish and English, the Master in Supply Chain Management and the Master in Data Analytics for Business, significantly expanding the school’s presence across the areas of business education assessed by QS.

With these results, UPF-BSM is now represented in all six Graduate Management Education categories published by QS in this edition: Global MBA, Management, Marketing, Finance, Business Analytics and Supply Chain Management. The school thus becomes the only business school affiliated with a Spanish public university represented in all six rankings, further strengthening a model that combines its links to the public university system with growing international visibility and recognition. In addition, five of the school’s programmes rank among the Top 5 nationally in their respective categories, reinforcing UPF-BSM’s position in the field of business education in Spain.

The newly ranked programmes join those that were already featured in the ranking: Master of Science (MSc) in Management, Master of Science in Marketing, Master Universitario en Marketing, Master of Science in Finance and Banking and Master Universitario en Finanzas y Banca.

“These results reflect UPF-BSM’s sustained growth in the QS rankings. In just four years, we have gone from having no presence in the QS Global MBA & Business Masters Ranking to being represented in all six of its categories, making us the first business school affiliated with a Spanish public university to achieve this,” said José M. Martínez-Sierra, Director General of UPF-BSM.

“In a Spanish landscape that is home to some of the business schools with the strongest international recognition, achieving such a broad presence is particularly meaningful to us. It demonstrates the ability of our model to compete and gain international recognition across very different areas of management education. Rankings are not an end in themselves, but rather a consequence of the work we are doing to build an increasingly international school, connected to businesses and capable of generating impact,” the school’s Director General added.

Newly ranked programmes

The Master in Supply Chain Management ranks as the second-best programme in Spain and 57th in the world, out of 142 programmes ranked in this category. It achieves UPF-BSM’s highest position in a QS ranking to date, standing out particularly in the research leadership and employability indicators.

Meanwhile, the Master in Data Analytics for Business enters the global Top 100, ranking 94th out of 234 programmes, and places third in Spain, consolidating the school’s commitment to specialised training in data analytics and its application to business management. For this programme, the highest-scoring indicators are research leadership and diversity.

The Full-Time MBA, offered in both Spanish and English, enters the ranking in the 111–120 range worldwide, out of 424 programmes ranked, and reaches 42nd place in Europe, placing it among the Top 50 MBA programmes on the continent. In Spain, UPF-BSM’s MBA ranks fifth. QS highlights employability and alumni outcomes as the programme’s strongest indicators.

Established programmes

The three programmes that were already included in previous editions of the ranking maintain stable scores or, in the case of the Master in Finance, even improve on their previous results.

The Master in Management moves from 80th to 89th place, with a change of just two tenths in its score. The Master in Marketing maintains the 48.8 points obtained in the previous edition. Meanwhile, the Master in Finance improves its score from 46.8 to 47.5 points.

Research impact: one of the programme’s key strengths

Among the different indicators assessed by QS, research leadership continues to be one of the main strengths shared across UPF-BSM’s programmes. Four of them (Finance, Supply Chain Management, Data Analytics and Marketing) rank among the Top 50 in the world in this dimension, with particularly strong results in research impact.

“This recognition also highlights our ability to generate relevant knowledge and transfer it to the business and professional spheres, connecting academic research with the real-world challenges faced by organisations,” said Ana Freire, Vice Dean for Social Impact and Academic Innovation and Academic Director of the Master in Data Analytics.

The QS methodology

The QS ranking is one of the most widely recognised international assessments in the academic field. Its methodology is designed to favour programmes that have strong links with industry, offer good career outcomes and provide high value to their students.

To calculate the results, the ranking applies a weighting of 30% to employability, 20% to research leadership, 20% to value for money, 20% to alumni outcomes, and 10% to diversity.