As the global economic downturn continues, Emmet Oliver, EducationCorrespondent, finds out how UCD and Trinity's flagship MBA coursesare faring. With both colleges competing in a competitive global market, isit time for a re-evaluation of the MBA currency?
"Only the best is good enough."
That is the bold slogan accompanying this year's advertisement for MBA courses at UCD's Smurfit School of Business. Unlike most advertising slogans, the college, at least in strict financial terms, can back this statement up.
Taking an MBA (Masters in Business Administration) still provides graduates with the "best" chance of earning a telephone-number type salary and the "best" chance of climbing the corporate ladder in a short space of time.
Unlike poor unfortunate undergraduates everywhere, MBA students, because they are paying fees of up to €20,000 a year, tend to get the best lecturers, the best facilities and the biggest helping hand from the college authorities.
Money buys money, in other words. However, what is best in Ireland is not necessarily best in a global context. UCD and Trinity (the only two providers of business education to be ranked in the influential 2003 Financial Times survey) are competing against the Harvards, Columbias, Oxfords and Stanfords of this world. When placed in that context, defining who is best becomes a little more difficult.
MBAs are big, big business. Colleges around the globe make millions in MBA fees each year. In many colleges the MBA is quite simply the gold standard or flagship course. Even people in the humble humanities area look on jealously at the resources and marketing put behind individual MBA courses.
Those who are squeamish about the commercialisation of education probably find the whole thing rather off-putting. However, for colleges the MBA programme is the equivalent of an international calling card - if you haven't got one, you don't exist.
Up till now, the theory behind the whole enterprise has been simple: students pay huge fees to the college, the college makes a huge profit and the graduate makes truck loads of money once they return to desk a year or two later.
Ostensibly, that is still the way it works, but the internationalisation of the MBA markets means everything now takes place on a global basis.
A senior IT professional in New York or San Francisco searching the web for MBA options may happen upon UCD or Trinity, but he or she might just as easily confine their search to the likes of Harvard, Yale or Wharton.
This tough, competitive market has put enormous pressure on UCD and Trinity to measure up. To be a serious player you must pick up a series of accreditations from various international bodies, you must market yourself relentlessly and you must perform well in influential surveys.
The king of all surveys is the annual top 100 MBA programmes put together by the Financial Times. This year, the survey brought UCD down to earth. The Smurfit School reached the dizzy heights of 60 two years ago, but this year it was down to 89. Symbolically, Trinity managed to squeeze past UCD into 86th position.
Both performances were, to be fair, more than credible. To be included in the survey at all is an achievement. The falling position of UCD has brought some unwelcome publicity, but the college's MBA remains a hugely popular option among the ambitious young turks of corporate Ireland.
Eamon Walsh, head of the MBA programme at UCD, says the popularity of the course is growing. This may be surprising. One might think a slump in the economy would hit the Smurfit school hard. For example, who can lay their hands on €20,000 for fees during a downturn?
"That has not been the case. These things are counter-cyclical. In a depression, people spend money on education and training. When things are booming, often people do not have the time to take a year or two off," he says.
The Smurfit School has moved in recent weeks to address one of its few drawbacks - its location in Blackrock, well away from the IFSC and other business locations. It has simply decided that if bankers, stockbrokers and fund managers cannot come to Carysfort, the college will go to them.
Trinity, meanwhile, is a much smaller, but equally ambitious, operation. John Quilliam, MBA programme director, says the college was delighted with its ranking in the FT survey, but this is not likely to prompt any sudden expansion. "UCD is a mas- market supplier of MBAs, as are other international colleges, but we like to keep our classes small and that will continue," he says.
However, both admit that the heady days of the early and mid-1990s are over for MBA programmes. For example, Quilliam says that up to 50 per cent of last November's MBA graduates are still looking for jobs, although he claims most of them are simply looking for the "right" job.
The Financial Times (FT) is pessimistic however, describing the current market for MBA graduates, particularly in the US, as "grim".
Sky-high salaries are also not necessarily automatic any more, even for the most hardworking MBA graduate. UCD's MBA graduates were asked by the FT about their career progress since leaving the Smurfit school and the results placed UCD back in 94th position out of 100.
However, no one should feel too sorry for these folk, their salary before they started at Smurfit (according to the FT) increased by 122 per cent by taking a trip down to Carysfort. At Trinity, graduate's salaries rose by 100 per cent by signing up for the one-year MBA course. Not bad for a year's work, however challenging it may be.
What lies ahead? Quilliam says it is great to have two Irish business schools in the global top 100, and there is plenty of room for everyone. He says the range and breath of the courses must remain as wide as possible.
Walsh says UCD is committed to pushing its MBA programme as high up the international league table as possible. UCD was ranked fifth in the world for value for money this year (based on the salary increase, plus the fees paid) and, with the economy in a tailspin, that is a phrase likely to be reverberate around MBA classes for the next year or more.
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MASTERS OF BUSINESS: The big two
Trinity College Business School, TCD
Runs a small business school which has managed to climb up the international rankings over the last three years. There are just over 30 places on its full- time MBA programme and students pay approximately €20,000 for the pleasure.
Unlike UCD's school, it is marketed strictly as Trinity College Business School. The amount of international students on its programme is extremely large.
This year it managed to gain a higher ranking than UCD in the highly influential Financial Times survey of MBA programmes. However Trinity likes to downplay any competition with UCD and points out that it runs a much smaller operation, with 75 per cent of its students coming from overseas.
It receives thousands of applications every year, but after boiling it down, there are usually only 200 "serious applications". From those, a smaller group eventually emerges, usually from a range of backgrounds.
The workload is heavy and students study in facilities in the Pearse Street section of the Trinity campus.
The Smurfit School of Business, UCD
Named after the king of the cardboard box, Dr Michael Smurfit, this school, for many years, has been the dominant provider of MBAs in the Republic.
About 220 adults take the part-time MBA each year, while about 105 take the full-time option. The course is taught in the old teacher-training college in Carysfort, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
While still regarded as the brand leader in many respects, its ranking in the annual Financial Times survey has slipped in recent years. It was ranked 89th (out of 100) this year, but this was down from 60th position in 2001.
The school attracted some unwelcome publicity last year when a former lecturer, Dr Gary Santry, left
the country under a cloud after his bogus academic credentials were exposed.
However, the college offers splendid facilities and its two MBA options are hugely over subscribed each year. The college is particularly proud of its contacts with senior business figures (not only Dr Smurfit) and talks by domestic and international heavy hitters are a regular feature of life at Carysfort.
