Henley Business School’s Global Executive MBA has delivered its strongest result yet in the Financial Times Executive MBA ranking: 32nd in the world for 2026, first in South Africa and third in Africa. The programme, run by the business school that forms part of the University of Reading, has climbed 20 places in two years, after a 19-place rise in 2025. Participants this year scored it 9.42 out of 10 on average for satisfaction, a figure that speaks to how the qualification is actually functioning for the executives enrolled in it.
The delivery model behind those numbers is demanding by design. The Global Executive MBA runs over 24 months, during which leaders stay anchored at home in their careers, organisations and families while working through an international curriculum. Launched in Africa in 2024, the programme brings South African, UK, Nordic and European cohorts together through five international residential visits spread across those two years. Participants combine academic study with practical work inside their own organisations, so what is learned is applied at home and abroad rather than left in the classroom.
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Henley is one of only two business schools in South Africa to meet the criteria for this year’s ranking. It is also the only Executive MBA delivered in South Africa with dual accreditation, meaning the degree is awarded in both the UK and South Africa. That operational distinction, the school argues, underpins what sets the programme apart on the continent.
Jon Foster-Pedley, Dean and Director of Henley Business School Africa and Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement (Sub-Saharan Africa) at the University of Reading, attributes the result to the reach of the school’s international operations. “Henley and the University of Reading work across the UK and Europe, in China and throughout Africa. That gives our participants something few business schools on this continent can offer. They learn from the Global North and the Global South and can explore how the same commercial problem is handled in Shanghai, in London and in Johannesburg,” he says. In his view, the main thing participants gain is better judgement, developed by having their thinking challenged by people who run large international businesses.
The Financial Times figures bear this out on specific measures. Henley rose two places to sixth in the world for the work experience of its participants and held seventh place for international course experience. It also rose eight places to 19th globally for overall satisfaction, and kept first place in the UK and South Africa for the third year running.
Meanwhile, Lyneth Zungu, Director of MBA Programmes at Henley Africa, points to the consistency of the outcomes. “Alumni tell us again and again that the programme has changed their networks, their confidence, their careers and their outlook,” she says. On the reliability of the ranking itself, she notes that schools must publish verified data on outcomes, salaries and the make-up of each class to take part. “Rankings are not the only measure of a business school, but they set a reliable standard. Taken together, these rankings show that Henley’s Global Executive MBA holds up on the measures that matter: student outcomes, academic quality, teaching, responsible leadership and international reputation.”
Participants describe the delivery in practical terms. Grace Harding, chief executive of Ocean Basket and a current participant, says the programme has changed how she runs a complex international supply chain, a franchise network and thousands of staff. “Since starting this programme, I’ve been the best CEO of my career,” she says.
Alongside the ranking, the school has moved to widen who can access the programme. Guided by its mission to build the people who build the businesses that build Africa, Henley has created a raft of new scholarships, adding to what it describes as one of the largest privately funded scholarship schemes in Africa. The new Global Executive MBA scholarships, launched this year, focus on three sectors: women in executive leadership, creative and cultural economies, and sustainability and responsible leadership.
“Real, systemic progress begins long before policies are drafted or balance sheets are balanced; it happens at the point of origin, determined entirely by who is present, participating, and shaping the agenda when pivotal decisions are made,” says Foster-Pedley.
The 2026 Women in Leadership scholarship has gone to Daisy Thobakgale, a technology strategist and enterprise transformation leader who is a senior project manager at Zimele Technologies and has guided large institutions through complex digital transformations. She is a candid advocate for structural gender equity in corporate spaces. “Never have organisations spoken more confidently about equality, yet few conversations remain as uncomfortable as naming inequality itself,” she observes.
By contrast, the Sustainability and Responsible Management scholarship has gone to David Le Page, a climate advocate and institutional strategist who is co-founder and director of Fossil Free South Africa, a Cape Town-based non-profit supporting a just transition away from fossil fuels and towards an equitable economy no longer based on exploitation of people and planet. In the Creative and Cultural Industries category, two partial scholarships were awarded to Richard Kingon, a classical musician, ensemble conductor, music educator and Yamaha Artist, and Shane Maja, CEO of the South African State Theatre and a cultural policy strategist with more than two decades of executive experience across the performing arts and screen sectors. Because of the strength of the candidate field, partial scholarships were also awarded to several additional candidates in each of the three fields.
Foster-Pedley says the recipients represent the kind of bold, innovative and courageous leadership the continent needs right now. “By bringing innovators from the creative arts, climate justice, and technological transformation into our Global MBA, we are not just broadening the conversation in the classroom; we are building the critical capabilities of the people who will build the businesses that build Africa.”
The next intake of the Global Executive MBA in South Africa is in October 2027, and places are limited. Applications for next year’s scholarship open in March 2027, with updates available from Henley Business School Africa.