UCT's EMBA ranks 1st in the region and among the world's best in 2 international rankings

The Executive MBA at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) has been named among the best in the world, ranking first in Africa and the Middle East and among the top 100 global programmes in the QS Global Executive MBA Rankings, just one month after it was ranked sixth globally in CEO Magazine’s Global EMBA Rankings 2026.

"Business leaders across Africa and around the world are having to navigate increasingly complex global markets, new types of digital disruption and unprecedented uncertainty," notes Dr Catherine Duggan, director (dean) of the UCT GSB. "Our EMBA is designed to help senior leaders deepen their leadership skills, develop new strategic insights and gain international perspective so they can lead more effectively within their organisations, across the continent and around the world. I'm proud that our EMBA continues to be recognised as Africa's leading programme and a benchmark for business education worldwide."

The QS Global Executive MBA Rankings, released today, are one of the most influential in graduate management education. The rankings evaluate 246 top international EMBA programmes in 58 locations using more than 75,000 employer and academic nominations. Beyond its top overall ranking in the region, the UCT GSB EMBA ranked among the global top 20 in both Executive Profile and Diversity, and number one for Employer Reputation in Africa and the Middle East, reflecting the programme’s strong global reputation and appeal to senior business leaders from a wide variety of backgrounds and nationalities.

"This ranking underscores our ongoing commitment to delivering a transformational journey to the executives in our EMBA programme," notes Associate Professor Camille Meyer, programme director of the EMBA at the UCT GSB. “More than half our cohort are managing directors, chairs, board members or in key c-suite roles when they join the programme, and it is an honour to guide such a remarkable group of leaders on a learning journey that keeps them at the forefront of an ever-changing, unpredictable world."

The programme’s strong relevance and applicability were highlighted by CEO Magazine’s Global EMBA Rankings 2026, which ranked the UCT GSB EMBA number six globally, making it the highest-ranked African or emerging-market EMBA in the ranking. The CEO Magazine ranking, which evaluated 340 programmes across 24 countries, is intended to provide a practical, holistic and applied view of a wide set of international EMBA programmes.

"Executives in the EMBA develop new perspectives on some of the most critical challenges of the workplace and the world by building on their own experience and drawing on insights from faculty and fellow executives in their cohort," notes Sherry Walklett, student engagement manager for the EMBA at the UCT GSB. "These results reflect the calibre of the leaders who choose this programme and the real impact it has on how they think and lead."

The UCT GSB’s top showing in the EMBA rankings follows similar global recognition for the school’s MBA programme. Earlier this year the MBA at the UCT GSB placed seventh globally in the Better World MBA Rankings for the second year in a row and among the top 100 in the world and number one in the Middle East and Africa on the 2026 QS Global MBA Rankings. In January the programme director for the Modular MBA at the UCT GSB, Associate Professor Caitlin Ferreira, was named MBA Director of the Year by the Association of MBAs, one of the three major global business school accreditation bodies.