How Cems and Qtem masters in management compare with rivals

Alumni who participated in the Global Alliance in Management Education (Cems) programme outperformed students overall in the FT-ranked business school masters in management courses. They had significantly higher earnings, at nearly $100,000, greater salary progression and a stronger rating of aims achieved three years after completing the programme.

Cems, created in 1998, offers an additional competitive qualification to the masters’ diploma to the 1,300 students admitted globally each year into its 34 leading business school members. Participants must meet additional requirements including a second language, take a common set of courses and study at two of its member schools.

Students also work on a consultancy project and have an internship at one of its more than 50 corporate partners — and half are recruited by these organisations after finishing.

Cems business schools have a higher proportion of faculty with doctorates than the average, but a marginally lower share of female and international students, faculty and advisory board members.

The other most significant formal partnership between schools with an additional specialist qualification is Quantitative Techniques for Economics and Management (Qtem). Its alumni earned less than the overall average in FT ranked schools, but compared with MiM students and those taking Cems, they reported a higher salary increase between completing the programme and three years later.

Qtem was created in 2012 and includes some 25 business schools and more than a dozen corporate partners. It offers more than 400 students training in at least two locations, with a focus on developing analytical and quantitative techniques, and includes practical experience.

Qtem is mainly in Europe but has partners in China, Japan, Russia, Canada and Australia, and ambitions to expand in North and South America. It now includes a compulsory global business analytics challenge including online courses and international group work.

Both Cems and Qtem seek to ensure a consistent quality standard regardless of which combination of schools participants attend. The FT does not include averaged outcomes from the two specialist qualifications within its overall MiM ranking. Instead, the data are shown here separately, based on answers provided by a sample of alumni from the two programmes across their full range of participating business schools who answered questionnaires.