• Overview
• In-market placement
• Block Release Academic Programme
• Eligibility Requirements
• Application Guidelines
• Apply Now
• Participants Profiles
• Food Industry Strategic Growth Programme

Block Release Academic Programme

A Unique Learning Opportunity

An MSc International Marketing Practice is awarded by UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School upon completion of the Fellowship programme. This is a Level 9 NFQ qualification.

“Future industry leaders will be required to have skills beyond analysis and calculation. Instead, they will be characterised by an ability to build organisational assets, strategies, brands and relationships and to match these assets with opportunities which might initially appear to be opaque but could offer exceptional pathways to growth.”

To meet this challenge, this executive education programme has been designed around four classroom based modules, a professional development programme and client assignments on behalf of the Irish food industry. The classroom modules emphasise the development of commercial capabilities which are immediately applicable and relevant for the long term. The modules include identifying and selecting strategies for growth, going to market, managing customer relationships for profit and the growth agenda in the global food industry.

Each module has been designed specifically for the Fellowship programme and for the needs of future leaders of the food industry. In total, they constitute a unique learning opportunity with the potential to accelerate career development, to enhance long-term professional opportunities and to identify graduating Fellows as future leaders of the food industry. Upon the completion of the taught programmes, Fellows will have a useful set of skills and tools but, most powerfully, a perspective on the strategic issues facing global food firms and the opportunity to invest these insights in a high-potential Irish company which is committed to the development of international markets.

Instructors are all highly experienced executive educators with track records of working in the international food industry. They will be drawn from UCD Smurfit School and its international partners including Harvard Business School, IMD and Ashridge.