Bradshaw leaving Financial Times

Della Bradshaw, who pioneered the coverage of management education at the Financial Times as its business education editor, is leaving the British newspaper, writes John Byrne of Poets and Quants.

Byrne writes, “Bradshaw, who originated the FT’s highly influential ranking in 1999, is uncertain about her next act. ‘I am thinking about a few things, but nothing concrete,’ she told Poets&Qaunts. Asked who her successor might be, Bradshaw replied, ‘Adam Jones, Work and Careers Editor, will be taking over for the moment.’

“When she first began the FT ranking, it was the first time anyone had attempted to measure the quality of MBA programs on a global basis. Nearly 20 years later, the Financial Times’ annual global MBA list remains the most influential global ranking of business school, especially in Europe and in Asia where it can impact application volume, alumni donations, and the overall prestige of a business school.

“Bradshaw, well-liked and highly respected by business school deans and administrators, not only carved out a special niche of business journalism at the FT. She also created a profit-making franchise for the British newspaper, cranking out nine separate rankings annually on everything from custom executive education programs to online MBA programs. Bradshaw has long been considered a down-to-earth journalist, a reflection perhaps of her Yorkshire background and her English degree from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. After graduating from Ulster in the mid-1970s, she taught English in Sicily, Turkey and Japan returning to Britain to write for Electronics Weekly, a trade newspaper. She then joined the FT as a technology writer, returning after a maternity leave, to launch the newspaper’s business education page in 1995.”

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