Ireland's leading business schools are in danger of losing their position without significant investment from both government and the business community, according to UCD business schools dean, Prof Mary Lambkin.
Prof Lambkin was reacting to the latest ranking of international business schools, which appear in the Financial Times today.
Smurfit Graduate School of Business climbs one place to 19th in Europe and stays at 86th among the top 100 schools worldwide, despite the entry of eight new schools.
"We have proven that we can compete at the highest level in business education," said Prof Lambkin. "However, business education is becoming increasingly competitive globally and Ireland is in danger of losing its top 100 position in the future unless investment is made in recruiting the best international faculty, researchers and putting in place state-of-the-art teaching and learning facilities."
UCD's graduate business school was the first in Europe to offer a masters of business administration course in 1964. Increased competition has seen it slip down the global ranking of MBA schools. Two years ago, it was even pipped by rival Trinity College as the leading Irish school.
However, it has gained ground on European rivals in the past couple of years. Prof Lambkin said Ireland had the ability to create a "Harvard Business School of Europe" but it "could not afford to become complacent about Ireland's position in the world rankings".
"If our goal is to be achieved, the Government and the business community must invest heavily in producing the business leaders of tomorrow," she said.
The Smurfit School came joint first in the rankings for the percentage of graduates employed three months after qualifying - at 99 per cent. It also ranked fifth under the category of "value for money" which measures the salary earned by graduates three years after completing their MBAs against the total cost of the course.
" My aim is to put Smurfit Business School among the top 10 in Europe in business education but we need the resources to do this," said Prof Lambkin.
"To sustain and improve on the economic success of Ireland, we must invest substantially and specifically in business education."
