UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School is ranked in the top 25 in the latest Financial Times European Business Schools Rankings, achieving 23rd place in the 2020 rankings published today.

“As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, having a world-class centre of excellence for business education is a key asset for Ireland and the UCD College of Business remains an important underpinning driver for future growth in the indigenous and multinational sectors,” said Professor Anthony Brabazon, Dean of UCD College of Business. “Empowering our students with the skills necessary to lead and innovate remains our focus as we face new challenges in a post-pandemic and post-Brexit world.”

The Financial Times European Business Schools Rankings are a “ranking of rankings” measuring schools’ quality and breadth of ranked programmes which include the Full-Time MBA, Executive MBA, Masters in Management (MiM) and both the Executive Education Open Enrolment and Customised rankings.

UCD Smurfit School’s 3-year average is an impressive 22nd in Europe and shows consistently strong performances at the highest level in this prestigious, combined ranking.

Considered in this ranking are the following UCD Smurfit School programmes which are ranked by the Financial Times: Full-Time MSc in International Management which is ranked 8th globally; the Full-Time MBA which is ranked 27th in Europe; and the Executive MBA, which hit a ten-year high in 2020 with a ranking of 62nd globally and 33rd in Europe. UCD Smurfit Executive Development achieved a Financial Times ranking of 27th and 47th respectively in Europe for its Open Enrolment and Customised programmes.

Commenting on the achievement, Helen Brophy, Director Smurfit Executive Development said,

"We are very proud to be Ireland's premier provider of executive education and are delighted to celebrate our achievements with our clients and executive participants. With the pressures and time constraints on executives' busy schedules, businesses in Ireland benefit hugely from having a top-ranked world-class executive education business school on their doorstep providing the type of programmes and thought leadership required for today's rapid and constantly-changing environment."

This ranking independently validates UCD Smurfit School’s status as Ireland’s top graduate business school and one of an elite group of global business educators.

“UCD Smurfit School has consistently ranked among the top business schools in Europe and the world,” continued Dean Brabazon. “The School will continue to innovate in 2021 with the launch of both a new Modular MBA which is designed to meet the demands of busy professionals and a new specialist MSc in Financial Data Science.”

The full rankings list can be found here.