A selection of MBA courses in Ireland’s leading business schools

Trinity College Dublin

Trinity MBA
Web: tcd.ie/business/mba/
This is offered as a 12-month, full-time MBA or part-time Executive MBA that takes place over two years. An intensive project-based programme for those who want to accelerate their current career path or transition into a new industry, the course offers live-action learning through three company projects across a range of industries. These projects provide an opportunity to tackle real-world business problems, create strategy and deliver solutions.

Students cover a critical mass of learning in all functional areas of business through nine core modules and three electives in areas such as leadership, cross-cultural management or entrepreneurship. Week-long international residency electives in South Africa, Brazil and Belgium help to bring in-class learning to life.

Classes are delivered over three terms in one calendar year for the full-time cohort and in the same format over two years on a part-time basis. The course is EQUIS and Association of MBAs (AMBA)-accredited, putting it among the top 1 per cent and 2 per cent respectively of business schools globally.

Class size: 50
Fees: Full-time – €34,700; part-time – €17,350 a year

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University of Limerick

UL MBA
Web: ul.ie/mba
This MBA is a popular choice with busy professionals due to its flexible, part-time format of monthly, three-day blocks. Designed to challenge strategic thinking processes, this two-year programme is proven to develop confident, internationally focused leaders. Equipped with enhanced decision-making and more effective communication, students will learn to lead with impact.

Five key themes shape the programme: internationalisation, managerial vision and competencies, entrepreneurship and innovation, strategic thinking, and leadership. Specialist elective modules also tailor the course to participants' career goals. With challenging content, high-calibre lecturers and accomplished peers, this MBA is designed to help its students learn, reflect, debate and grow. The course is AMBA and AACSB-accredited, putting it in the top 2 per cent and 5 per cent of business schools globally.

Class size: 30-35
Fees: €14,621 a year

University College Cork

UCC Executive MBA
Web: ucc.ie/en/mba/
This is a two-year, part-time programme for working managers and professionals and prepares its participants to become organisational managers, innovators and leaders. It provides a strong understanding of the core organisational functions and disciplines, but moves beyond that to provide an integrative, critical understanding of the foundations and practice of management and leadership.

Participants learn how all aspects of a complex organisation interconnect. For most people, this requires an understanding of functions and disciplines outside of their existing professional competence. This results in a shift to a broader strategic emphasis, with a focus on becoming innovative leaders, adaptive to change. Through the leadership development framework, students explore the nature of their decision-making and define learning patterns that they use throughout their career. This MBA qualification benefits career paths by identifying its students as individuals with a high level of leadership ability.

Class size: 30
Fees: €27,000

University College Dublin

UCD Smurfit MBA
Web: smurfitschool.ie
This MBA programme is the only Irish programme to have the "triple crown" of EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB accreditation. The full-time MBA is highly regarded worldwide, being the first MBA programme offered in Ireland and one of the first in Europe. The full-time MBA has been in the Financial Times rankings of the world's top 100 for 20 years and the Executive MBA (part-time) is ranked 66th in the world.

The MBA provides exposure to leaders on global issues, delivered in a classroom setting, by an international faculty on the Dublin campus. Candidates will be challenged and stimulated by an academic curriculum including global case studies, action-learning via global collaboration and international study trips and exchanges. This MBA offers a leadership development programme that focuses on building the necessary skills to communicate effectively, helping the student understand themselves better and lead diverse teams and organisations anywhere in the world.

Class size: 30-40
Fees: Full-time – €34,500; part-time – €15,950 a year

NUI Galway

NUI Galway MBA
Web: nuigalway.ie/mba/
This MBA is a two-year, part-time programme delivered on campus in a block release format (blocks will be of two or three days' duration and generally occur at intervals of every three weeks during the semester). The programme is structured around three pillars of transformational leadership, innovating success and business for society. Driven by an experienced and dedicated faculty, the university's MBA integrates an academically rigorous and challenging real-world business education with industry engagement and global learning. The MBA provides graduates with the knowledge, transferable skills and leadership acumen required to lead innovative success and graduates have a proven track record of accelerated career progression. The course is AMBA-accredited, putting it in top 2 per cent of business schools globally.

Class size: Between 20-25
Fees: €13,850 a year

Dublin City University

DCU Executive MBA
Web: business.dcu.ie/course/executive-mba/
This two-year, part-time programme takes place on a Thursday afternoon and evening, which helps participants to balance the demands of work and their personal lives while completing the MBA. As an Executive MBA, the majority of participants have 10 years' management experience. The programme benefits hugely from the scale and depth of professional experience among participants, who come from a variety of sectors across finance, tech, pharma, professional services and public sector bodies.

This MBA brings huge benefit to employers as participants can directly apply their learnings to the real-life challenges encountered in participant organisations. The programme’s subject assessments become participants’ assessments of their own organisations, bringing direct and immediate value back to their place of work. In addition to advanced study in the business fields of marketing, accounting, finance, technology and economics, the MBA also has a leadership development strand running through the two years to enhance participants’ personal leadership style. The outcome is ultimately to prepare executives for significant career growth and corresponding responsibility. The course is AMBA-accredited, putting it in top 2 per cent of business schools globally.

Class size: 30
Fees: €12,750 a year

TU Dublin

TU Dublin MBA
Web: dit.ie/mba/
This part-time MBA equips participants with the leadership skills and strategic mindset needed to drive their careers and their organisations forward. Accredited by AMBA, placing it in the top 2 per cent of business schools globally, this programme is internationally benchmarked, and an approach to continuous improvement has seen several new modules and features added recently.

Key highlights include a week-long Silicon Valley immersion and a personalised leadership development programme. Modules are taught by experienced TU Dublin faculty who are at the forefront of their disciplines and deeply engaged in executive education and research. It is delivered over two years and runs on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings in Aungier Street.

Class size: About 25
Fees: €21,000

Waterford IT

WIT Executive MBA
Web: wit.ie/courses/executive_mba_part_time
This is a two-year, part-time programme delivered on Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings on the main campus in Waterford. The programme exposes students to all functional areas of business with a strong emphasis on peer learning, leadership, personal development and action-based research.

A total of 16 modules are covered, during which students will develop their personal and organisational skills to become more effective managers while the research-led teaching with many practice-based assignments will develop thinking professionals with an ability to see multiple perspectives. An international study trip to Boston allows students to see an international context and develops cultural awareness while its organisational change research project gives students an opportunity to experience live-action learning in real company projects.

Class size: Between 15-20 students
Fees: €8,950 a year

Cork IT

Master of Business Administration (Strategy)
Web: cit.ie/course/CRBSTRA9
This is a two-year, four-semester, part-time programme delivered on-campus. Learners take modules such as research methods, exploring corporate strategy, international performance management, leadership and organisational behaviour, economics of global markets, international business strategy, contemporary issues in marketing, data analytics, strategy, organisational change management, research dissertation and an international business field trip.

The programme delivery incorporates lectures, site visits, live case studies and visiting speakers, ensuring it is applied and relevant to industry. Learners can expect to benefit from individual, professional and personal development. The programme allows students to develop their interpersonal, conceptual and decision-making skills and enhanced management and leadership ability, confidence and critical self-awareness. It also allows students to develop the required skills and abilities to assist in navigating their chosen career path, while their organisation will benefit from the skills and confidence of the learner who will bring an added value to their workplace and colleagues. Assessment methods include examinations, individual and group projects and presentations. Classes are delivered Wednesday 6-10pm and Fridays 2-9pm.

Class size: 20 students
Fees: €6,250 a year

Dublin Business School

DBS MBA
Web: dbs.ie
This MBA is offered as a full-time or part-time (two-year) option. As an organisation needs to be flexible in diverse business environments and to change direction at speed, this MBA develops these sets of abilities with a particular focus on a thorough understanding of business management. It offers the opportunity to study advanced theory and practice relating to management, and to develop an appreciation of the causes and significance of managing strategy.

The programme also allows students to study the pure MBA, or choose a specialist route for an MBA award within the following programmes: HRM; project management; finance; information systems; cloud computing or marketing. Included in the programme are lectures and assessment methods that apply the business knowledge required for students to perform as an effective manager in any organisation alongside knowledge and understanding of global business.

Fees: Full-time – €12,500; part-time – €6,250 a year

Class size: Part time: 30-40. Size of full-time classes can vary

Irish Management Institute

IMI Mini MBA
Web: imi.ie/product/mini-mba/
The Irish Management Institute offers a five-day mini-MBA programme multiple times a year. This highly interactive programme is designed to challenge and expand participants' business knowledge and learn to master the essentials of business practice.

Class size: 10-15
Fees: Non-member fee – €3,445; member fee – €2,845