SDA Bocconi Ranked #1 Worldwide in Financial Times Executive Education Custom Ranking 2026

SDA Bocconi School of Management has been ranked the world’s leading provider of custom executive education in the Financial Times Executive Education Custom Ranking 2026, reinforcing the school’s growing international role in leadership development, organisational transformation and executive learning.

The ranking places SDA Bocconi #1 worldwide for custom programmes designed in partnership with corporates, financial institutions and public administration and with senior executives. The school achieved top positions across a range of client-focused measures including programme design, faculty, teaching methods and materials, new skills and learning, follow-up, aims achieved, future use and value for money.

The result reflects the increasing strategic importance of executive education as organisations navigate technological disruption, geopolitical uncertainty, artificial intelligence and changing workforce dynamics.

“Our role is not simply to deliver programmes,” said Stefano Caselli, Dean of SDA Bocconi School of Management. “We work alongside organisations to understand their challenges, co-design learning journeys and help leaders continuously adapt in a rapidly changing world. Today, executive education is becoming one of the most important tools organisations have to strengthen human capital, leadership capability and long-term competitiveness.”

The Financial Times ranking is based on feedback from corporate clients and evaluates the extent to which executive education programmes deliver strategic value and organisational impact. Over the past three years SDA Bocconi has steadily strengthened its global position, moving from #6 in 2024 to #3 in 2025 and now reaching the top position worldwide.

Separately, SDA Bocconi also ranks #1 for overall participant satisfaction in the FT's open executive education category, a result the school regards as an equally significant endorsement of the quality of its educational offering.

SDA Bocconi has increasingly focused its executive education activity on long-term partnerships with organisations, combining academic research with leadership development and practical business transformation. The school works with companies, financial institutions and public sector organisations across Europe, the Middle East and international markets.

“Our clients are increasingly looking for more than short-term training,” Caselli added. “They want a business school partner that can listen, work alongside them and help develop the intellectual capital needed for long-term transformation. This is very much part of SDA Bocconi’s DNA.”

Located in Milan, one of Europe’s leading business and innovation hubs, SDA Bocconi combines a global outlook with strong connections to international business, entrepreneurship, finance, luxury, manufacturing and public institutions.

The Financial Times recognition further strengthens SDA Bocconi’s position among the world’s leading business schools and reflects the growing demand for executive education that bridges academic insight, leadership development and real-world organisational change.

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SDA Bocconi School of Management

SDA Bocconi School of Management is the international school leading the transformation of individuals to improve the future of people, organizations, and society. Alongside its urban campus in Milan, renowned as the most sustainable in the world, the school also has a location in Rome and a pan-Asian hub in Mumbai. SDA Bocconi’s programs are built on rigorous and original research activities, offering MBAs, Specialized Master, and Executive Master programs, as well as open and custom executive education.

According to the Bloomberg Businessweek ranking, SDA Bocconi is the first business school in Europe. The most recent Financial Times rankings place it first in the world for custom executive education and sixth in Europe among business schools.