The University College Dublin (UCD) Smurfit School of Business rose five places this year in the Financial Times (FT) European Business Schools Rankings, moving from 29th to 24th in Europe.
The FT rankings measure the quality and variety of a schools’ programmes. The updated ranking places the UCD business school amongst the highest in Europe.
Trinity Business School is not analysed in the FT rankings as only business schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) or the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) are audited by the FT.
Speaking to Trinity News, Dean of Trinity Business School Professor Andrew Burke noted that the school has “only joined AACSB and EQUIS fairly recently and [has] started the fairly long accreditation process with both organisations”. The school joined these organisations in 2015.
“We hope to have at least one of these accreditations by 2019 which will mean that we will be eligible for the 2020 FT rankings,” Burke commented. “A big part of the school’s high growth strategy is to have an even stronger international brand.”
The Trinity Business School and UCD Smurfit School of Business have both fallen in ranking in The Economist’s Full Time Master of Business Administration (MBA) ranking. The Smurfit School ranked 84th globally in 2016 but since fell to 100th place in 2017. Trinity’s School of Business dropped from 86th in 2016 to 98th in 2017.
UCD’s full-time master’s degree International Management was ranked 15th globally in the FT’s October rankings and its MSc in Finance was ranked 36th in the world.
Trinity’s master’s degree in Finance is currently ranked 1st in Ireland and 40th in the world, according to QS rankings. Its master’s degree in management is positioned 1st both in Ireland and in Western Europe by Eduniversal.
In a comment to Trinity News in February, Emma Dooney of the Trinity Business School noted that the rankings of the two schools is “ not really a Trinity versus UCD issue. Both universities are competing in the global education market, not against each other. The healthy competition between the two can only result in both business school’s raising their game and improving their rankings globally”.
