Ireland’s longest established MBA programme celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. “That brings a very strong heritage,” says Associate Professor Ciaran Heavey, academic director of the UCD Smurfit School MBA Programme. “It gives us a very large network of thousands of alumni around the world as well as a depth of experience in programme delivery that is unmatched in Ireland.”
The Smurfit School offers both a full-time MBA programme, delivered intensively over 12 months, and an Executive MBA programme delivered over 24 months. The full-time Smurfit MBA is designed to develop global business leaders from any discipline and across all industry sectors. It can provide the catalyst for career change, development and growth in professional life.
Aimed at busy professionals, the Executive MBA is delivered part-time over two years with classes on-campus once a month, along with a number of weeklong modules. This mode of delivery means the programme can accommodate participants who cannot commit to weekly classes.
People choose to do an MBA for a variety of reasons, according to Heavey. “We have 30 students on our full-time course and another 40 in the executive programme and they might have 70 different reasons, but fundamentally, there are two main ones. The first is to elevate their career in their current organisation. An MBA was traditionally designed for engineers with a narrow perspective and who didn’t know much about other areas of the organisation. It gives participants a holistic view of the entire enterprise and how the different functions work together. It equips people to solve problems and challenges outside of their current role.”
The second is to change career direction. “They might want to move from finance to strategy or consulting or into a different industry. There is another reason and that is personal and professional development. A shared attribute of our MBA students is ambition, about themselves, their careers and their lives. They are on a quest for self-improvement.”
The Smurfit MBA is particularly attractive due to a number of factors, says Heavey. “The MBA market is highly competitive, and students have more choices than ever. But the Smurfit MBA is distinctive for a number of reasons including the depth and breadth of the curriculum and quality of our faculty. We offer depth in areas like strategy and finance and breadth and specialisation in areas like data analytics and AI. There is also our focus on globalisation and developing a global mindset among students.”
Full-time Smurfit MBA students participate in two international study trips, and they have access to Global Network of Advanced Management (GNAM), a global network of 32 business schools. Executive MBA students can also participate in an overseas study trip and also have access to GNAM.
A new feature of both programmes is the Leadership & Employability Advancement Programme (Leap) module. Grounded in the principles of evidence-based management, Leap is a bridge between the academic and business worlds. The programme offers MBA students the opportunity to develop their behavioural competencies to compete at the required level for MBA roles; build intercultural competence; benchmark competence levels by participating in an employability centre; participate in employer mock interviews and receive industry feedback on their performance; navigate career transitions with the support of a senior Smurfit alumni mentor; engage in cross-industry employer visits through the year; and network and build professional relationships.
“We want to give our students the best chance of pursuing the right career and of developing the competencies they need for it,” Heavey adds.
International standing also matters. UCD is ranked in the top 1 per cent of global business schools worldwide and the full-time MBA is 91st in the Financial Times ranking, while the Executive MBA ranks 64th. In addition, the Smurfit School is one of an elite group of schools to hold the triple crown of accreditation from AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA while the latest Financial Times European Business Schools rankings place the Smurfit School at 24th.
The experience of running MBA programmes for 60 years is another key factor. “The knowledge we have gained enables us to support our students. Between 75 per cent to 80 per cent of our full-time participants come from outside Ireland. They face challenges and we have a lot of experience helping them deal with them. Many of our Executive MBA students are balancing full-time jobs and families and we provide a lot of support to help them solve the problems that creates. No matter what the personal or professional challenge, we can help students to navigate it.
“For Smurfit, the MBA is not just another programme. The societal role of the school is part of our DNA. We are helping the next cohort of business managers to improve the world, not just business but society as well. A Smurfit MBA equips people to do that.”
To attend the UCD Smurfit School open evening in Dublin on November 13th, and information on other events around the country and worldwide, click here. Applications for UCD Smurfit School MBA Programmes are now open here