TCD and IMI launch Graduate School of Management

Posted on: 18 October 2005

Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and the Irish Management Institute (IMI) have today (18 October) announced details of a joint initiative which will see the establishment of a new Graduate School of Management, aiming to rank in the top 25 in the world within a decade. Currently no Irish Executive Education programme ranks in the global listings.

The Graduate School brings together the IMI and TCD’s School of Business. The School will build on the foundations of the Trinity MBA and the suite of M.Sc. (Mgmt) degree programmes currently delivered across the two institutions. It will also focus on providing world ranking management development through executive education for senior executives and an ambitious programme of research on management and competitiveness issues.

The exclusive focus of the Graduate School’s courses of study will be executive management programmes. Prior management experience in addition to academic achievement will be prerequisites for entry onto the programmes.

The Graduate School will have a combined staff complement of approximately 50 experts and an international network of affiliated faculty and business schools in both education and research will strengthen its global reach. A significant collaboration has already been initiated with Babson College, located in Massachusetts, recognised internationally for its entrepreneurial leadership. Babson is a leading provider of executive education management-development programs, and has been ranked among the top executive education schools worldwide by both the Financial Times and Business Week.

Launching the initiative today, Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin T.D. said: “The positive progress of our economy to date is in no small part due to the high standard of our graduates. However, a world class economy needs a world class executive education system if it is to sustain itself in the long-term. Management education and executive development is critical if our graduates are to become effective business leaders. Equally, research into how we have succeeded to date and what elements must be improved if we are to sustain this growth is also critically important. That is why the multi-stranded initiative being announced today by Trinity College and the IMI is a welcome development.”

Dr. John Hegarty, Provost of Trinity College Dublin said: “This initiative builds on the solid foundations and international reputations in education and research of both IMI and Trinity. It is rooted in the existing collaboration at course level that can number among its alumni many of Ireland’s leading chief executives”.

Speaking today at the Launch of the initiative, Dr Tom McCarthy, Chief Executive, IMI said: “We’re delighted to be launching the Graduate School of Management with Trinity College, one of the world’s finest educational institutions. The vision for the School of Management is to provide a world-ranked executive education and research institution in Ireland. The School will combine top executive education with groundbreaking, insightful and focused management research.”

“Achieving critical mass in research activity will be a key driver in building reputation for the school as a centre of excellence in management development”, according to Dr Gerard McHugh, Head of Trinity’s School of Business. “The establishment of our business laboratory, BizLab, will grow a management research capability in Ireland comparable to the scientific laboratories that have sprung from the Programme for Research in Third level Institutions (PRTLI) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).”

Tim Wray, Registrar of the IMI added: “The research element of the Graduate School will focus on understanding the industries and firms that have created the ‘new Ireland’. The research will be targeted at managers and policy makers, addressing the decision making challenges of both public and private sector management.”