The Nova School of Business and Economics campus at Carcavelos, Cascais

Business 8 September 2026

The Portuguese school that just finished ahead of HEC Paris and INSEAD

Nova SBE's International Master's in Management placed second worldwide in the 2026 Financial Times ranking, after eighth in 2024 and fourth last year. Only St. Gallen finished higher.

The second-best master’s in management on the planet is now taught in Carcavelos. Nova School of Business and Economics took second place worldwide in the 2026 Financial Times Masters in Management ranking with its International Master’s in Management, a result the school calls the best in its history.

Only the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland finished ahead, taking the top spot again. Behind Nova sit the schools that usually dominate this conversation: HEC Paris, London Business School and INSEAD.

This did not happen in one year. Nova was eighth in 2024, fourth last year, and second now. A decade ago it was 17th.

It is also not happening alone. Portugal has five schools in the top 100 this year against two in 2016: Católica Lisbon climbed to 25th, Porto Business School gained 29 places, and ISEG entered straight in at 59th.

What the ranking actually rewards

The FT’s Masters in Management table covers programmes aimed at people straight out of a first degree, which makes it a different beast from the MBA rankings. It weighs salary three years after graduation, career progress, how international the faculty and student body are, how much time students spend abroad during the course, and the school’s published research.

That last cluster is where a Portuguese school can compete with far richer institutions. Carcavelos was built as an international campus, with cohorts in which Portuguese passports are the minority, and the formula rewards exactly that.

Why it matters beyond the press release

A podium place changes the recruitment conversation. It changes who applies and from where, and it changes which employers bother to show up on campus.

It also lands on the same day as a much bleaker set of Portuguese education numbers. While higher education posts a result like this, the country’s 15-year-olds have slipped back to 2006 levels in PISA. Two different systems, funded differently and serving different people, and the gap between the two charts says something about the country on its own.

For anyone hiring here, the practical effect is straightforward. People who once had to leave to get this credential are now getting it in Lisbon, which shifts the calculation for companies weighing up schemes like the €182 million Productive Innovation call and then needing the staff to deliver.

By Beatriz Mota

Image: GualdimG / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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