There is a wall in the entrance foyer of the Dublin Business School. On it is listed the first places in various accounting and finance exams which have been awarded to students of the college.

It relates a most impressive record which the college has established in the teaching of accountancy and finance. Now one of the areas which DBS is expanding and adapting to in the current climate of growth in Irish business is the sector of postgraduate conversion courses. There are currently around 300 postgraduate students, out of a student body of approximately 4,000 at the DBS, participating on either a full-time or part-time basis in various disciplines. Last year saw the very successful amalgamation of the DBS with LSB College. This meant an expansion in the range of courses available.

The arts and humanities courses now offered at postgraduate level include the graduate diploma in psychoanalytic studies with the possibility to enter employment or further training, perhaps in the form of the MA in psychoanalysis offered by the college.

Other courses on offer in this area are the masters in addiction studies and a masters in anthropology. These courses aim to deal with contemporary issues which affect society at large. Gerry Muldowney, director of the School of Business Studies in DBS, is dedicated to making the postgraduate conversion courses available wholly relevant to students seeking a successful business career. He explains: "We have students coming to us straight from college. They may have done an arts degree or a science discipline. They want to develop a career in business but they do not have the experience.

"They need to learn the necessary business skills and knowledge. We aim to provide them with the practical and focused knowledge to go out and build exciting, challenging careers." The graduate diplomas in business studies are NCEA-accredited and are focussed in four main areas. These are general business studies and then business with a special focus on IT, a focus on human resource management and, finally, with an emphasis on e-business.

Each of the strands of a graduate diploma has a comprehensive grounding in core business subjects, such as management and strategy, marketing practice and business skills.

"When students are hoping to apply to our courses we aim to guide them in the direction of study which is most suited to them. So we are available for discussion if they think they might have a particular bent towards information technology or if they think they may develop an interest in an area of human resources,' says Gerry Muldowney.

"The most important thing to remember with our conversion courses is that we want students to be highly employable at the end. Therefore we need to be very much in tune with what is required in the business world. We are, already, to an extent through links with large firms where students do their work placements. But we also need to be very much aware of developing business practice."

It is for this reason that recently developed areas of specialisation, such as the graduate diploma with ebusiness, are very important. As Gerry Muldowney points out, many students can finish primary degrees with little or no experience of computers.

Being able to type up an essay on a word processing document is several steps removed from understanding what exactly the term e-business means and how is it used in the marketing and circulation of information and products in business today. Tutors encourage students to do their compulsory course project on an area which is practical in terms of their future career aspirations. "Students can use a well prepared project as an impressive portfolio for their work," says Gerry Muldowney. The modular nature of the courses on offer are of great help to those who are participating on a part-time basis. Part-time students have already entered the work place so they are aiming to improve their current skills in order to change or make progress from their current status.

When they have completed a module of study and the assessment at the end of it they do not have to go back and do any further exams or assessment in that particular subject. This form of modular study is particularly useful in the master of business studies programme. The master of business studies is what Gerry Muldowney describes as "really stepping it up a gear".

It is open to those who have completed a good second class honours business degree, or who have a good second class honours degree in another discipline with three years of relevant senior management work. Students coming to the MBS from a working environment often choose to take a break between modules if they need to spend some extra time on their business interests.

THE masters is accredited by the Liverpool John Moores University and puts graduates in a position where they should progress to senior managerial positions in Irish and multinational companies. The focus in this course is strongly on business strategy while the dissertation part of the course is a highly focused body of work.

Despite the greater academic emphasis of the dissertation, students are still strongly encouraged to make their work applicable and relevant to current or developing business strategy and work practices. DBS offers a further number of qualifications through its appointment as the Henley Management College associate college in Ireland. An Executive MBA and project management MBA are on offer through this association. DBS has itself been awarded the CIMA quality award for teaching and the ACCA Premier Registration status for teaching. Contact the DBS Admissions at (01) 417 7500 or email: admissions@dbs.edu