A flexible approach to ranking with an application to MBA programs (Q1037674)

The aim of this paper is to describe a flexible ranking approach based on mixed integer programming. The proposed model differs from the previous ones in the sense that it is based on reasonable weight ranges. The developed mixed integer programming was used to investigate the impact of the criterion weight flexibility on university rankings. The numerical results were reported for 81 schools included in the original ranking of 2005. The obtained results were discussed and interpreted. Another application of the proposed model was in the case of the problem of ranking MBA programs that are based on 20 criteria from which 12 use a continuous numeric scale and 8 are based on ranked data.