Spanish business school IE has scored a hat-trick by reaching the top spot in the Financial Times ranking of online MBA programmes for the third year in a row. IE came in ahead of the UK’s Warwick Business School, ranked number two for the third year running, and Durham University Business School, which made it into the top three for the first time.

The 15 ranked online MBA programmes provide flexible study options for working executives, who can expect to graduate with the same qualification as their full-time, residential MBA counterparts.

While the FT online and full-time MBAs are not strictly comparable because the criteria used to judge them are slightly different, it is interesting to note that IE and Warwick Business School are among six schools to feature in both rankings.