A survey released Tuesday dropped the University of Wisconsin Business School from 42nd to 50th nationwide. The result comes on the heals of criticism from the school’s recent graduates.

The school’s new dean, Mike Knetter, said the Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive survey carries little weight, and he noted several recent additions to the school, including a night-time MBA program and the completion of the Fluno Center for executive education.

But critics contend the school has poor results in proportion to the amount of money it spends.

The latest U.S. News and World Report ranked the school 46th.

In addition, the value of an MBA was questioned recently in an article by two researchers at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. The researchers said the degrees are not applicable to real life.

Knetter disputed the theory.

“The article raised some interesting points, but it certainly isn’t fair to say an MBA is worthless,” Knetter told The Capital Times.
Knetter came to the school in July after working as associate dean of Dartmouth’s business school, which was rated number one by the survey for the second straight year.