University of Edinburgh ranks sixth in CEO development

The University of Edinburgh has been ranked as the sixth best UK university for developing CEOs.

Out of 197,164 alumni, over 12 per cent of them are classed as business leaders.

This is made up of over 6,100 CEOs, 12,300 founders and 5,600 managing directors.

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is ranked as the top producer, with over 19 per cent of its students going on to leadership roles.

Of its total alumni total (326,403), over 19,000 are classed as CEOs, 28,000 as founders and 15,000 as managing directors.

The universities of Cambridge, Imperial College London, Oxford, Westminster and Bristol make up the remaining top seven, with Manchester, UCL and Durham also making the top 10.

The data, collected by Capital on Tap, was obtained through LinkedIn alumni data, with the total alumni count reflecting the number of people who are registered as having attended the institutions on the careers website.

The company explained that business leadership has become one of the most popular career paths of the last decade, and that the UK’s universities serve as an important launchpad for future CEOs.

Capital on Tap also highlighted the increasing popularity of freelance work, ranking each university by the percentage of freelancing alumni.

It found that the University of Westminster is the top producer of freelancers with 8,546, or 5 per cent of its total alumni count of 161,738.

The University of Edinburgh was ranked fifth, with 7,720 freelancers (3.92 per cent) while St Andrews was the only other Scottish university in the top 10 (3.44 per cent).

The University of Sussex, Manchester Met and the University of East Anglia made up the rest of the top five, with Leeds, Lincoln, Bristol and Cambridge also making the top 10.

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Capital on Tap also gave five recommendations to students looking to maximise their time and turn their ambitions into long-term success.

They said that getting involved in entrepreneurship early, whether through societies or business competitions, was the most important factor, alongside building your network, experimenting with new ideas and side hustles, developing financial skills, and embracing failure.