Who needs Wharton or Kellogg when you can have BU?

Business Insider recently ranked Boston University’s School of Management 10th in its survey of the World’s Best Business Schools, boosting its standing 26 spots over last year and awarding it an edge over the 11th-place Kellogg School at Northwestern University and the 12th-place Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

“A program is only as strong as its graduates, and this ranking shows the strength of SMG and Boston University in the eyes of employers,” says Kenneth Freeman, SMG’s Allen Questrom Professor and dean.

Business Insider’s ranking “is a testament not only to the high caliber of our faculty and their outstanding work designing innovative curricula, but to perhaps the most important function they can perform: helping students to develop into world-class business professionals,” says Jean Morrison, BU’s provost and chief academic officer. “It shines a well-deserved light on SMG and on Boston University’s competitiveness on the world stage.”

Business Insider conducted its fourth annual survey differently this year, targeting more than 300 business professionals with experience hiring MBAs for fields as diverse as health care, government, and finance and asking them to select the “10 most prestigious business schools in the world.” Their responses generated a percentage, which the news site ranked.

Nearly 30 percent of respondents chose BU as an elite B-school. Harvard, Yale, and Stanford earned the top three billings, garnering 77 percent, 60 percent, and 58 percent, respectively.

The survey dug deeper than ranking, though, by asking respondents to assess the value of holding an MBA. Surprisingly, only 3 percent thought it “extremely important” and about a third called it either “slightly important” or “moderately important.” Nearly 70 percent thought the most valuable asset an MBA provides is the skills and knowledge to do the job, while 20 percent cited the degree’s ability to provide a network of contacts. Only a small fraction said brand value of the school or degree was important.

SMG’s leap toward the top in this year’s survey may be due to a change in methodology. Last year the news site surveyed a large cross- section of readers, Freeman says, including respondents who did not attend business school and others who had no hiring experience.

“This change shifted the placement of some schools,” Freeman says, “and we can see how highly regarded SMG is through the lens of those who hire.”

Late last year, the New York Times also surveyed thousands of recruiters from the top companies in 20 countries on the global employability of graduates, and Boston University again fared well, ranking 7th in the United States and 17th worldwide.

Freeman says 87 percent of the University’s MBA students were employed within three months of graduation in 2012, while 93 percent of undergraduates found a job within six months.

In other B-school rankings within the past year, SMG was ranked 40th by U.S. News & World Report, 39th by Bloomberg Businessweek, and 95th by the Financial Times.