Purpose This study aims to investigate how highly ranked business schools portray ideal students in terms of their attributes and their agency. Understanding how these higher education institutions (HEIs) discursively construct their present and prospective students also shed light on the institutions’ self-representation, the portrayal of the student–institution relationship and eventually the discursive construction of higher education’s (HE) role. Design/methodology/approach To understand this dynamic interrelationship, this study uses mixed methodological textual analysis first quantitatively identifying different modes of language use and then qualitatively analysing them. Findings With this approach, this study identified six language use groups. While the portrayal of the business schools and that of the students are always co-constructed, these groups differ in the extent of student and organisational agency displayed as well as the role and purpose of the institution. Business schools are always active agents in these discourses, but their roles and the students’ agency vary greatly across these six groups. Practical implications These findings can help practitioners determine how students are currently portrayed in their organisational texts, how their peers and competitors talk and where they want to position themselves in relation to them. Originality/value Previous studies discussed the ideal HE students from the perspective of the students or their educators. Other analyses on HE discourse focused on HEIs’ discursive construction and social role This study, however, unveils how the highly ranked business schools in their external organisational communication discursively construct their ideals and expectations for both their students and the general public.

Organisations usually address their stakeholders in their external communication. We can argue, that in case of higher education institutions, the most important stakeholders are the students. Accordingly, to answer the question how students are addressed by business schools, we have investigated the mission statements of the top 100 business schools based on Times Higher Education list in 2019. These expressions are not only identity markers delineating the ideal students, but also invoke different feelings and images. Our results highlighted the complex nature of business schools balancing between academic and business-related professional language use.