Portugal has five management master's programs among the top 100

Portugal placed five management master's degrees among the 100 best in the world in 2025, according to the Financial Times newspaper ranking, also published this Monday by Público .

According to the ranking, the best position goes to the master's degree from the Nova School of Business and Economics (Nova SBE), in Carcavelos, which reached fourth place (after being ranked eighth last year), only behind the University of St. Gallen, in Switzerland, which leads the ranking, and the French institutions HEC Paris (2nd place) and Insead (3rd).

The master's degree ranking takes into account various criteria, such as the average annual salary of alumni, which is estimated at $123,485, approximately €105,000 at the current exchange rate. Also factored into the ranking are career progression and the employability rate after three months, which, for example, is 99% at Nova SBE.

Further down are the master's degrees from Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics (30th), the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto — Porto Business School (62nd), ISCTE Business School (87th) and Católica Porto Business School (95th).

This latest master's degree represents a new Portuguese entry compared to the 2024 list , in which Portugal had registered only four management master's degrees among the international elite.

For these educational establishments to participate in the Financial Times ranking, they must be accredited by the European (Equis) or North American (AACSB) system and their training program must have been in operation for at least three or four years (with the first class having graduated at least three years before the ranking's publication date).

This was the 21st edition of the FT ranking of management master's programs, and 137 universities with these training programs submitted their applications after responding to the newspaper's invitation to participate, based on student survey responses. A response rate of at least 20% of alumni from any school wishing to be considered for the ranking is required, and this year, over 9,500 alumni responded (a response rate of approximately 29%).