University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business is one of the top business schools in South Africa. It has centres of expertise in leadership and public values; entrepreneurship; coaching; and managing infrastructure, reform and regulation. Outside the classroom there's a big emphasis on sporting activities, such as the Three Peaks race, which incorporates Table Mountain, and an annual golf challenge.

Vital statistics. Applicants must be at least 25 with a minimum of three years' work experience; they also need to complete the GMAT (average score 545) and sit the university's own learning diagnostic test. Students on the one-year full-time programme take 11 core courses covering topics such as accounting, quantitative analysis, finance, IT and strategy. They are also expected to take a number of electives - in the past options have included black economic empowerment, game theory and doing business in China - and to complete a research report and a company analysis. Tuition fees for overseas students this this year were £13,870.

Rankings. Cape Town GSB is number 71 in ft.com's global MBA rankings for 2008. It comes second in the value-for-money category, with the average alumni salary now 73 per cent higher than before completing the MBA.

International experience. Students can undertake exchanges in one of several countries, including Hong Kong, France and the US. The school is also involved with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the world's largest single study of entrepreneurial activity.

Employment record. Three months after graduating, 98 per cent of students have accepted a job offer.

Application deadline: October 31, 2008 for the course beginning at the start of 2009; earlier is better because it takes at least two months to obtain a study permit.

Sources: www.gsb.uct.ac.za; mba.eiu.com; ft.com; www.gemconsortium.org

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