A shake-up within the top five open-enrolment programmes defines a new order in the 2011 ranking. Spain’s Iese Business School is the leader of the pack of 65, up one place on its performance in 2010. Harvard Business School and Arizona’s Thunderbird School of Global Management also climb the table to share second place.

The ranking, based on a survey of business schools and open programme participants from 2010, gauges the quality of the different learning experiences as well as each school’s staff and student diversity, growth in business, and international reach.

Iese’s promotion to the top spot reflects improved levels of satisfaction among its students. The school is ranked second for its facilities and the level of follow-up offered to programme participants. It also scores well for the relevance of its course content, finishing third on the measure of new skills and learning.