The closest association between a third-level institution and a leading business figure up to this has been the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, based in Blackrock, Co Dublin, which offers some of the most expensive courses available in the education system. Based in the former teacher-training college at Carysfort, the school has state-of-the-art equipment and its list of patrons and sponsors reads like a Who's Who of Irish business. Eircom sponsors a lecture room, PricewaterhouseCoopers funds a chair in accounting, while Irish Intercontinental Bank has contributed towards the costs of the library.
Entrepreneurs including Mr Dermot Desmond, Mr Denis O'Brien and Mr Lochlann Quinn are among the school's board of directors.
While some of the college's academics have expressed unease about such a close relationship between a university and the business world, other colleges have not been slow in following the example of UCD and tapping into the generous coffers of the business community.
Trinity College Dublin, for example, has been able to raise £57 million from the private sector since 1992 to help fund its ambitious building programme. Among its benefactors has been UCD-educated Dr Tony O'Reilly, executive chairman of Independent News and Media.
TCD recently awarded an honorary degree to Mr Lewis Glucks man, a retired financier and philanthropist from New York, for his generous endowments to the university. The University of Limerick has also benefited from Mr Glucksman's generosity in relation to funding for its new library.
However, the involvement of Dr Tony Ryan's family in the new academy at CityWest in west Dublin alters the pattern of previous linkages between business and education. In this case, those funding the development will be putting their name to the institution itself, not just funding part of an existing college.
The relatively small size of the academy means it will have to carve out a niche of its own and avoid competition with places like the Michael Smurfit Graduate School or the National College of Ireland (formerly known at the National College of Industrial Relations).
The courses at the academy will be short and will not lead to degrees. However, the academy will offer an MSc in technology management, which is recognised by UCD. The college will mainly award its own diplomas.
The academy is designed for people with business ideas who are looking to acquire the skills to implement them. The courses on offer are designed by the Entrepreneurship Centre at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
At MIT's Entrepreneurship Centre, business people take courses which range from one week to one year, according to Prof Tom Allen, head of the MIT centre. He said the Dublin academy would be modelling itself on the MIT centre. Dr Ryan is understood to be travelling to Boston in a few weeks to study the facilities and processes there. The promoters of the Dublin academy told The Irish Times they were not seeking to compete with the established business schools and faculties.
"I would describe it as a boot camp for business people with ideas, it will be very intense," said Mr Michael Donnelly, the chief executive of Growcorp Ltd, the company responsible for the academy until a full-time director is appointed.
He said because most of those coming to the academy would be already working, the courses needed to be short and intense.
Prof Allen said courses at MIT tended to be expensive, but Mr Donnelly said the Dublin institution would attempt to keep the fees in line with the norms in the third-level sector. He said a certain number of scholarships would also be available.
Because the academy is not offering any degree programmes of its own, recognition from the Higher Education Authority or the Department of Education and Science is not needed. State funding is not being sought at this stage, but the academy may apply for funding for future programmes. The involvement of MIT, one of the leading third-level institutions in the United States, is probably the strongest element of the package which will be available to potential entrepreneurs.
The location at the National Digital Park in CityWest will be the other major advantage. The academy can avail of better band width (which controls Internet access) than that to which most companies and third-level institutions have access. This is necessary because the academy will have several high-tech research laboratories which will involve using Internet technologies.
The academy also wants to attract students from some of the high-tech companies which are expected to set up at CityWest throughout this year.