MBA in Ireland: Quick Fact File

Ireland’s global influence far exceeds its diminutive stature. This small island nation has a population of a mere 4.6 million, smaller than many of the world’s larger cities. Despite this, its contributions to global culture are significant, particularly in the arts – and you’d be hard pressed to find a major urban center almost anywhere in the world without at least one Irish pub.

Ireland is also a big hitter in higher and business education. For those looking for an Anglophone alternative to the UK, an MBA in Ireland can provide a credible option.

In the latest edition of the QS Global 200 Business Schools Report – the world’s top 200 business schools as selected by actively hiring MBA employers – two Irish schools are included, both based in capital city Dublin: Trinity College Dublin and the Smurfit School of Business (part of University College Dublin).

Ireland gained the moniker of ‘the Celtic Tiger’ in the late 20th century, (named after the Asian Tiger economies which came to prosper in late 1980s and early 1990s). Its economic strength, built largely around technology and pharmaceuticals, saw the nation become a hub for multinationals – with Intel, Google, Facebook and Twitter setting up their European headquarters in Dublin.

The nation was hit hard by the global economic crisis, requiring an EU bailout in 2010. However, Ireland remains a powerhouse, ranking seventh in the 2013 UN Development Index in 2013 and 15th in the world for GDP per capita in 2012 according to the IMF. The country exited its bailout in December 2013, and increases in house prices and national employment has led Irish central bank head Patrick Honohan to forecast recovery “on a broad front”.

And as in other nations, for better or for worse, MBAs have been hit much less hard than those on the lower end of the economic spectrum.