Stanford Graduate School of Business tops the 2012 FT Global MBA ranking this year for the first time. Its breakthrough sees the California school become only the fourth institution to top the ranking, after 13 consecutive years in the global top 10.

The top three is completed by two previous winners, Harvard Business School at number two, and the Wharton school at the University of Pennsylvania, ranked third.

The ranking, in its 14th edition, is a combination of data gathered from participating schools and alumni from the class that graduates three years before the survey. According to the 2008 alumni data, three years after completing their MBA, Stanford graduates enjoyed the highest sector-weighted average salary, at $192,179 per annum (based on purchasing power parity equiv-alents). Pay has proved a strong suit for Stanford throughout the history of the ranking: the school has topped the list of earnings eight times.