Smurfit

Seems like I never officially announced my acceptance to UCD Michael Smurfit School of Business in Dublin. It finally happened! All the details are now settled and I am just enjoying my life before starting a challenging two-year course in September.

I am completely certain that next two years will bring valuable insights and help me move forward in my life across all the directions and perspectives. Following you can find some additional information on the school and the program.

The MBA has been offered by UCD since 1964, one of the first places in Europe to do so. Dr Michael Smurfit, a philanthropic Irish businessman, gave the college a donation to open a graduate business school in Blackrock in 1991.

The main building - previously a Sisters of Mercy teacher training college - is Victorian. Dr Smurfit's gift paid for a major opening up of the space, fitted with Irish oak panelling, Portland stone walls and marble floors. There are 12 syndicate rooms, eight technology-enhanced classrooms, lecture theatres, a large networked common room, dedicated computer labs and a brand new library will be opened in January 2007.

UCD Smurfit is one of nine graduate business schools in Ireland. Around 1,000 students (600 full-time) including 170 post-experience MBA students, 40 on the full-time one year MBA; 800 on Masters programmes for business graduates.

Famous alumni: Niall Fitzgerald, chairman, Unilever; Dr A J F O'Reilly, chairman, Heinz; Don Godson, chief executive, CRH plc (construction); Dr Peter Sutherland, chairman, Goldman Sachs International.

MBA students are typically aged 30 with seven years' work experience. Most have a degree in science, engineering, business or law, but 25 per cent hold a liberal arts degree and four per cent are medics. International students make up 50 per cent of the MBA class and are from 22 different countries and from four continents.