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[email protected] Business school rankings and business relevance, an overlooked dimension July 2011 Stéphane Gregoir Director of the EDHEC Economics Research Centre, EDHEC Business School Research Director, EDHEC Business School Summary Newspapers, academic or political key element in a student’s choice. Research institutions regularly promote their own activity is necessary for professors to stay assessment of the relative performances at the edge of their fields and improve their of a particular subgroup of higher teaching, but students are more users and education institutions conveyed through interested in practical implementations of a one-dimensional ranking. This generates new concepts or methodologies. Attending much comment from students, politicians courses delivered by researchers in which and Directors of the ranked institutions. new relevant concepts, new relevant These rankings differ in the surveyed methodologies or simply the current populations, their methodology and their questions in the fields are introduced objectives which are not always thoroughly is a career accelerator for the student. presented. In the nineties, they were Aware of the current debates in their marketing operations to sell special issues fields, graduates can select appropriately of newspapers or simple lists compiled new opportunities. Moreover, on the one by academics to help parents and future hand, such a teaching allows for a swift students make their choice, they now have dissemination of new practices which is gained a political importance as a key piece socially beneficial and on the other hand, of information used by funding agencies, taking into account this dimension in regional and national politicians in their rankings would introduce some forward- designing of new policies as well as heads looking dimension.