Fortune launches its higher ed coverage with online MBA rankings

Fortune announced Monday the launch of Fortune Education, which will cover the business of higher education.

It will start with business school rankings and will continue on to ranking and rating various graduate, post-graduate, executive education and personal and professional improvement programs.

The web  page will include articles, insights, and ongoing reporting about what prospective students should know in order to make the best, most impactful decisions for their careers.

Fortune launched on Monday its first ranking, The Best Online MBA Programs of 2021, the first of six higher education rankings to be published in 2021. Fortune used multiple data sets to formulate education rankings, including data provided by schools, a “Brand Score” that is calculated from a Fortune-Ipsos survey of hiring managers and business professionals, and a weighted “Fortune 1000 Score,” which considers business school alumni placement in the C-Suites of the biggest companies in the U.S.

“During the pandemic year, two things happened that are propelling this new initiative,” wrote Fortune CEO Alan Murray in his daily newsletter.  “First, the speed of technological change—already head-spinningly fast—accelerated even more, underscoring the urgent need for programs that help workers acquire new skills to keep up with change. And second, digital access to everything expanded, making online education the dominant mode for lifelong learning.”

Lance Lambert is the editorial director of Fortune Education. Other publications that rank business schools include Poets & Quants, US News & World Report and Forbes.