BW To End Undergrad Biz Ranking

Francesca Levy, Game Plan Editor

Francesca Levy, Game Plan Editor

Bloomberg Businessweek announced today (April 15) that it will no longer rank undergraduate or part-time business programs any more. The final undergraduate ranking will be published on Tuesday, April 19th, after the magazine suspended that list for a full year.

The decision follows a severe cutback in the coverage of business education by the media outlet after its acquisition by Bloomberg in 2010. Businessweek once pioneered reportage of graduate business education, launching the first regularly published ranking of MBA programs–before U.S. News, The Financial Times, Forbes, or The Economist.

The announcement was made in an email from Bloomberg Businessweek staffer Francesca Levy. Levy, editor of what Bloomberg calls Game Plan, did not provide a reason for the cutback. But the magazine lost its experienced team of journalists and editors who covered business education for many years. Since then, both the quantity and quality of its coverage quickly deteriorated.

FULL-TIME MBA RANKINGS UNAFFECTED BY DECISION

“After careful consideration, Bloomberg has decided that, after our 2016 undergraduate rankings publish on Tuesday, April 19, we will no longer publish undergraduate and part-time business program rankings,” she wrote.

Levy said the website would still write stories for undergraduates, though the magazine’s coverage has been sparse and inconsistent for several years now. “To reflect the popularity of programs targeted to undergrads and mid-career professionals,” she added, “we will transition our coverage from rankings to regular editorial content on Bloomberg’s Game Plan site, our home for news about business schools, the college experience and early professional life.”

Levy said Bloomberg Businessweek will continue to publish its full-time MBA rankings annually.

DON’T MISS: NEW BW UNDERGRADUATE RANKING DUE APRIL 19TH

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