Executive MBA

course overview

Placing our Executive MBA among the top 2% of Business Schools in more than 75 countries

DCU is Ireland’s ‘University of Enterprise’ and is consistently recognised in global rankings of young universities.  The dynamic and vibrant ethos of these universities of the future imbue all aspects of DCU’s activities and specifically influence the design and delivery of the DCU Executive MBA programme.

The DCU Executive MBA Programme is AMBA accredited and is delivered by DCU Business School and is designed to be professionally and personally transformative.  It is aimed at developing business leaders with ambition, enterprise and leading-edge thinking who can create tangible and sustainable outcomes for organisations through the application of their learning. Our Executive MBA programme, which is internationally accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), has been graduating MBAs for more than 20 years, equipping senior executives with the knowledge and skills to deal with these complexities and deliver outstanding organisational performance.

The pillars of the DCU Executive MBA

The design of the programme is underpinned by 4 key pillars:

Inspiring Future Leaders

Participants will follow a two-year leadership and career development programme. Action-based projects, workshops, team and facilitator feedback, and self-reflection develop self-awareness of own leadership style, deepens emotional intelligence and enhances leader behaviours.

Transforming Organisations

We seek to develop participants capacity for analysis, assessment, judgement and action; skills that participants can exercise throughout their careers.

Engaging Enterprise

Our programme emphasises applied learning in practice. We take a holistic view of the enterprise; integrating across business functions, with industry-oriented assessments that deliver significant business value. It places importance on evidence-based management. Our Executive MBA is an applied programme that develops evidence-based mangers who can identify and analyse the best available data to make better decisions.

Influencing Business in Society

We emphasise, through a strong focus on ethical business values, the importance of building businesses that are in harmony with societal needs.

Programme Structure and mode of delivery

The DCU Executive MBA is a part-time programme, delivered one day per week (Thursdays 2pm-9pm) over 2 years across 4 semesters.

In the first year of the Executive MBA programme, you will develop an understanding of the range of foundation disciplines and their potential contribution to business leadership and organisational effectiveness.

The second year of the programme will be characterised by an integrated approach, which focuses more specifically on the key strategic drivers of sustainable growth and operational excellence.

View current course structure →

DCU Business School is ranked in the top 95 Business Schools in Europe in the 2022 Financial Times Ranking, one of only three Irish Business Schools to achieve this ranking.  The Financial Times Ranking for Business Schools is one of the most highly acknowledged and widely cited authorities on quality and performance of institutions globally.

Accredited and internationally recognised
DCU’s Executive MBA is accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), which assesses the quality of MBA programmes worldwide. You will graduate with an internationally recognised and accredited qualification.
DCU Business School is also one of only three business schools in Ireland with AACSB accreditation, placing it among the top 5% worldwide. AACSB accreditation adds a further layer of prestige to the qualifications of our graduates, particularly for those looking to work internationally.

Internationally ranked

The Executive MBA is ranked in the top 40 Executive MBA programmes by the QS 2020 Executive MBA ranking and ranks 22nd in Europe in the Thought Leadership indicator. The executive profile of the MBA candidate ranks in the top 41.1% in Europe indicating the advanced professional experience and career stage of our MBAs, specifically at management and C-suite level

Adding Value to Practice
MBA participants will conduct a strategic consultancy project and other applied real world industry projects, which integrate the knowledge, skills and values of the programme and deliver return on investment
for employers and clients.

Leadership Development & Career Management Programme
MBA participants pursue a programme of action-based projects and workshops over 2 years. Self-assessments, and team and facilitator feedback develop self-awareness of own leadership competencies, facilitates targeting development opportunities, deepens emotional intelligence and enhances competence to think and act as a leader and people manager.

International Exposure
Participants will broaden their perspective on global organisations on the International Study Week. In recent years, participants have attended lectures on leadership, global strategy, innovation and performance
management at Harvard, Boston University, Stanford University and the Hong Kong
Polytechnic University. Visits to Hong Kong, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Boston included meetings with start-ups, incubators, multi-national organisations and financial institutions focused on innovation,
entrepreneurship, leadership,

Small Class Sizes

We believe that an interactive and participative learning environment is best achieved in small classes. We draw heavily on the experiences and insights of participants.

Academically Rigorous

Learn from academic experts, who are leaders in their field, with many publishing in top international journals and presenting at international conferences. Their teaching draws on their continuing research and insights gained from their work with organisations in Ireland and overseas. Our research emphasises both the creation and application of knowledge to improve management practice and teaching.

Producing Evidence-based Managers

A key element of this MBA, that is unique to DCU, is the fact that we develop evidence-based, data-driven managers. In collaboration with the Centre for Evidence Based Management and Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, participants will learn how to read and analyse data more efficiently, identify the best available data and use it for better-informed effective decision making in their roles.

A holistic approach to learning

We adopt three approaches to learning – a focus on knowledge, where participants engage in class-based lectures workshops and company visits, a focus on leadership skills, where participants work in a hands-on team-based environment and assess and develop their own leadership competencies; and a focus on action, where participants engage in projects applying lessons learnt back into practice

Alumni Network When you graduate from DCU Business School, you join a dynamic alumni network of 20,000 graduates, who are taking our mission to transform lives and societies through education, research and innovation to the rest of the world. The alumni network is alive and engaged through online platforms and alumni events throughout the year.

Further information:

For further information please contact businessmasters@dcu.ie or 01 700 5265

At DCU Business School, we believe that the MBA should be about much more than just acquiring some useful extra tools for the management toolkit. It should also be a transformative experience at the personal level. Our value proposition is that our MBA is an educational experience that is both professionally and personally transformative, aimed at developing business leaders with the ambition and enterprise to help create a better, more sustainable world and featuring leading edge thinking with tangible application.

Graduates of our programme talk about how they have grown in confidence, how their own self-awareness as leaders has deepened, and how their perspective on business management has been raised to a more strategic level.

Our graduates tell us that these ‘personal growth’ effects of the MBA become very apparent back in their workplaces, in terms of the issues to which they are invited to contribute, the roles they are asked to take on, and in how they are perceived as future leaders.

DCU Executive MBA alumni include:

Grace O’Shaughnessy, Managing Director of Java Republic

Moyagh Murdock, CEO of Insurance Ireland

Albert Manifold, CEO of CRH plc

Gillian Fanning, President of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry

Emma Hynes, CFO of Greencore

Katarina Antill, Founder and CEO of Bonafi

General Entry Requirements

For admission to the Executive MBA candidates must hold
A 2:1 Honours degree in a relevant discipline, or equivalent professional qualification

AND

At least 3 years’ relevant managerial experience

Applicants who have achieved a 2.2 Honours degree (and meet the experience requirement) may, based on the Programme Chair’s recommendation, still be offered a place. This will depend on availability of places and on obtaining high grades in relevant modules on their undergraduate programme.

Additionally, applicants who do not meet the academic requirements outlined above may be eligible for an offer of a place based on at least 7 years’ relevant managerial/organisational experience based on DCU’s Recognition of Prior Learning Policy. The process for approving such an offer involves an application and an interview with the Programme Chair and approval by the School’s Teaching & Learning Committee. The number of such places is limited in any given year so it is recommended that applicants considering this option apply early

Commencement of Programme

The programme has a compulsory Orientation Session which takes place the week before the standard University commencement date. 

Please note that the running of the programme is subject to a minimum enrollment number.

Enquiries

The decision to undertake an MBA is a major one. The programme involves a significant investment of time and resources. We would encourage you to take your time in making this decision and consider carefully all aspects of this decision and how it will fit into your life.

We believe that the DCU MBA is a life-transforming experience for participants. We encourage you to contact us for further information or to visit us at DCU. If you would like an information discussion on how the DCU MBA might fit with your career, or if you need any further information about our MBA programme, please contact:

Dr. John McMackin via john.mcmackin@dcu.ie

NEXT STEPS

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