A survey of international business schools shows the MBA programmes run by Trinity and UCD are among the best value for money. They may get a further boost from predicted economic growth, writes Emmet Oliver

Possessing an MBA (Master's in Business Administration) in the tech-driven economy of the 1990s guaranteed you a certain station in corporate life. You could expect to earn a salary beyond the wildest expectations of your friends and you could expect to be headhunted by some of the most dynamic companies in the world.

Contrast those heady days, when Wall Street was at historical highs and executive bonuses read like telephone numbers, to now. Applications worldwide last year for MBAs were down 30 per cent, with some European schools down by 50 per cent. At UCD's Smurfit School of Business in Blackrock, applications for the full-time programme declined by 15.4 per cent, with Trinity College Dublin's smaller MBA course suffering a similar fall in applications.

Things have reached a sorry pass, one MBA holder joked recently, when a graduate fresh out of Harvard's MBA class can expect to earn only $163,834 a year.

The reasons the MBA has lost its lustre over the past two to three years are mainly economic, but also political. Economic, in the sense that the downturn in the global economy made potential MBA students cleave to their jobs and avoid time away from the office. One MBA graduate put it succinctly: "With lay-offs even hitting upper managements grades, nobody was running out the door to take a year or two off to do an MBA."

The political reasons were mainly those associated with September 11th. Potential MBA students from the US were reluctant to study abroad, fearing terrorism. Potential MBA students from Europe were reluctant to go to the US for similar reasons. Immigration was tightened after September 11th and getting visas to the US, particularly for those in the Far East, became tougher, according to observers.

Now that colour has returned to America's economic cheeks, some of the negatives have been cleared away. MBA applications are predicted to rise and UCD and TCD are hoping to be lifted by the tide. Not that they were suffering too much. John Quilliam, MBA programme director at Trinity, says the college gets thousands of applications each year for the 30 or so places on its one-year full-time MBA. The Smurfit Business School also gets a high number of applications.

But attracting the best and brightest students is more important than getting a high volume of applications. MBA providers want high achievers on their courses. People who can handle the fees and also go back to their jobs and pass the word on. Based on the recently published Financial Times annual round-up of the best 100 MBA programmes, UCD and TCD appear to be getting it right. Both colleges remain minnows compared with the powerhouses in the US, France and Britain, but getting onto the list of the top 100 best MBA programmes is an achievement. This year UCD pulled off a modest coup by moving up the rankings from 89 to 84, while TCD held its ground at 86. According to the FT, graduates from both programmes were earning an average of more than $92,000 a year after graduating. It is worth noting the word average. A small group of high earners can skew the figures and it often takes MBA graduates a long time to gather momentum when they return to the workplace.

While UCD and TCD can only dream of making it into the top 50, the MBA courses at both colleges performed strongly in terms of value for money. UCD was ranked 13th in this category by the FT, with TCD in 10th position. This might seem a strange outcome when you consider that TCD charges €20,500 for its full-time programme and UCD charges €19,500 for its full-time option and between €20,000 and €27,000 for its various part-time options. It is worth remembering that none of this includes the cost of renting a house or apartment for the year. This could add anything up to €15,000.

But these fees are modest when you look elsewhere. Research by The Irish Times found fees range between €32,000 and €49,000 a year. Prof Eamonn Walsh, dean of the Smurfit business school, says despite the high fees, most of the students in UCD provide the funding themselves, usually with a bank loan. "It's an investment. People realise they are investing in their careers and investing in their education."

With that kind of money involved, it is no surprise that dropout rates on both MBA programmes are minimal. The pace, however, is gruelling and MBA graduates must cope with huge demands. "You'll find time management skills you never knew you had," says Prof Walsh. Quilliam puts it another way. "It is very intense. You need to have emotional and physical resilience, because there is remorseless pressure."

This pressure is often imposed on men rather than women. There has been a puzzling trend in business schools for some time of low participation among women in MBA programmes. Nobody wants to posit a theory about why this is, although some suggest the low number of women in upper management is a good starting point for investigation.

Both colleges claim that competition between them is negligible. "The courses are like chalk and cheese. They complement each other," says Quilliam.

He claims students at TCD are in a small group (there are only 30 on the TCD MBA course) and do not have elective subjects. He says the course is promoted internationally via word of mouth and the Web.

Prof Walsh says there are more than 250 students taking the part-time MBA at UCD and about 80 taking the full-time option. He says the Smurfit School of Business is very large compared with anything else in Ireland and that is a big advantage to MBA students. "Because of our size we can offer a range of options to students in terms of subjects," he says. The UCD course also offers internships in companies and the services of a career management centre. However, there is no guarantee of a job, UCD points out.

UCD's ambition is to become a major European player and it recently established an office in Rotterdam. Prof Walsh says eventually 50 per cent of the MBA students will be from overseas, 25 per cent will be Irish ex-pats and the rest Irish people based at home. He is optimistic about the MBA market throughout the world.

TCD, meanwhile, may consider a part-time option, but the college is content with its "small, but beautiful" model right now. Quilliam, while confident in the "intellectual horsepower" of TCD's intake, warns that the weak dollar could be an obstacle to recovery. "It's hard to know how important it is, but it is worth keeping an eye on."

He explains that MBA courses in Europe are a third more expensive than US options and this has got to weigh on the minds of potential US applicants. "It's not just Americans. Other countries are also pegged to the dollar and that makes Ireland expensive right now," he says.

In the final analysis, the MBA will remain the gold card of educational qualifications. "There is no sign of its appeal ultimately declining. It is still the premier qualification for senior management," says Quilliam.