A lesson in good business.

(From Business and Finance)

UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School offers lifelong learning.

Sometimes, there is a preconception that a "business school" is a place filled with ambitious twenty-somethings looking to gain enough business savvy to take advantage of the next dotcom boom, or sharpen their competitive edge for a career in investment banking. While this is certainly part of what is on offer at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, through its full-time masters and MBA programmes, it has also recently expanded opportunities for experienced professionals to return to formal business education.

The school's flagship degree programme for working professionals is the Executive MBA programme (part-time), which in 1964 was the first of its kind in Ireland. The UCD Smurfit MBA remains the only programme in Ireland to hold the coveted "triple accreditation" from international bodies in the EU, US and UK. In addition to the MBA, the school offers masters level programmes in technology management, risk management and project management for working professionals, as well as options to undertake specialist masters programmes on a part-time basis. The school has also recently launched a series of shorter, non-degree programmes through its executive education arm.

Interestingly, further education is an industry that tends to operate counter to the regular economic cycle - when the economy faces tough times, demand for postgraduate programmes tends to be buoyant. Having an edge becomes critical in the job market, while the opportunity cost of a time-out of employment may be reduced.

In addition to teaching the key functional skills necessary to run a business, the MBA at UCD Smurfit School exposes participants to global management principles and helps them develop a local, national and international business network.

These programmes build confidence in doing business, demystifying how decisions are made in the corporate world and challenging participants to develop their own attitude towards developing business in the global environment. Students, who come from a variety of backgrounds representing different cultures, industries and expertise, start to apply their learning from the beginning, delivering immediate benefits personally and professionally.