The 29 most powerful business degrees in the world

Generally speaking, the better the university, the better the chance of getting to JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, or a major hedge fund.

Every year, the education company QS produces a comprehensive ranking of the world's best universities, broken down by region and subject. It released its latest ranking in March.

A university's ranking is based on the institution's reputation among academics and employers, as well as the number of research citations the school gets per paper published in a specific discipline — in this case, business and management.

Many of the schools on the list are in the US, but several are in countries in Europe and Asia, and three are in Australia.

Check out QS's highest-ranked universities for degrees in business and management.

29. Monash University, Australia — Located in Melbourne, Monash is one of Australia's oldest institutions. It climbed two places this year.

28. Peking University, China — Beijing's Peking University is the only school on China's mainland on this year's list, though two in Hong Kong are included. It climbed eight places from its spot last year.

27. Ramon Llull University, Spain — This Spanish university based in Barcelona is one of Europe's top 10 universities for business, but it dropped from its 21st spot on these rankings last year.

26. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong — One of two Hong Kong institutions on the list this year, the university climbed two places from its 2017 ranking.

T24. University of Michigan, US — Michigan's Ross Business School is one of the US's best, and that's reflected in its ranking this year.

T24. University of Warwick, UK — Schooling the likes of the Andy Haldane, the Bank of England's chief economist, Warwick is the fifth UK university in this year's rankings.

23. New York University, US — Though it is perhaps less often discussed than its Ivy League neighbor, NYU is home to the Stern School of Business, a widely respected institution.

22. University of New South Wales, Australia — One of a handful of Australian universities to make the list, this Sydney-based school climbed one place from its spot in the rankings last year.

21. Yale University, US — Yale has educated many of America's most successful businesspeople, including PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi and Steve Schwarzman, the CEO and founder of the private-equity giant Blackstone Group.

20. University of Chicago, US — Another college with a famous business school, the Booth School of Business, counts Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the former Goldman Sachs boss Jon Corzine among its alumni.

T18. University of California, Los Angeles, US — Dropping from 16th place last year, UCLA's business school is third-best in California.

T18. Columbia University, US — Columbia has one of the best business and management degree programs through its campus in New York. Its ranking was practically unchanged from last year.

17. Copenhagen Business School, Denmark — Scandinavia's premier institution of higher learning for business, Copenhagen Business School dropped four places from its position on last year's list.

16. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong — Moving up from 20th in these rankings last year, is home to the second-best business and management degree program in Asia.

15. National University of Singapore, Singapore — The No. 1 spot in Asia goes to the National University of Singapore, whose ranking has not changed since 2017.

14. University of Melbourne, Australia — One of the significant risers this year, the University of Melbourne's business and management degree program moved up eight places.

13. Northwestern University, US — Northwestern, close to Chicago, climbed one place from 2017's ranking. Well-known alumni include James Allen and Edwin Booz, who went on to found consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton in the early 20th century.

12. HEC Paris School of Management, France — HEC is dedicated to teaching subjects in business, management, and finance. It has consistently ranked among the top 15 schools in recent QS rankings.

11. University of California, Berkeley, US — Just a stone's throw from Silicon Valley, Berkeley is the second-most-prestigious business and management degree program on the US's West Coast. It fell from 10th last year.

10. Bocconi University, Italy — Bocconi, based in Milan, provides the second-best business and management degree programs of any university in a country whose majority language is not English. It climbed one place from 2017's list.

9. London School of Economics and Political Science, UK — Though LSE is better known for producing politicians and economists (about a quarter of all Nobel Memorial Prizes in Economic Sciences have been awarded or jointly awarded to LSE alumni, current staff members, or former staffers), its business school is also hugely successful. It has not moved in the rankings from 2017.

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8. University of Oxford, UK — Britain's best university overall in numerous rankings, Oxford is a favorite venue for students seeking to make it big in UK business. It was seventh in these rankings last year.

7. University of Cambridge, UK — Leapfrogging its archrival Oxford, Cambridge, specifically its Judge Business School, is the UK's second-best.

6. Stanford University, US — Stanford's Graduate School of Business is one of the most prestigious institutions in the US, and that prestige filters through to all the university's degrees in business and management. It was also sixth in these rankings last year.

5. University of Pennsylvania, US — Penn isn't the most famous of the Ivy League colleges, but it does offer one of the best degrees in business and management. The university's Wharton School boasts former students like Warren Buffett, who dropped out before completing his degree, and President Donald Trump. It stayed in fifth place on this list for a fourth consecutive year.

4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US — Generally better known for science, MIT also excels in business-related subjects, staying at fourth in QS's rankings for a second consecutive year.

3. London Business School, UK — The highest-rated business school in the UK, London Business School has long been an elite institution. It has been among the top three in QS's rankings for the past four years.

2. Insead, France — Europe's top university for the study of business management, Insead, south of Paris in Fontainebleau, climbed one place in this year's rankings.

1. Harvard University, US — Having topped QS's ranking last year, Harvard kept the top spot in 2018. Alumni include Jame Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan; Michael Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg; and Bridgewater Capital's Ray Dalio.