DCU Business School

Age: 30

History: DCU Business School is a separate faculty within Dublin City University. It was the first university in Ireland to introduce multidisciplinary programmes, such as languages and international marketing, and their BA in accounting and finance was the first of its kind in the country when it was launched in 1980.

Address: On the Dublin City University campus, three miles from the city centre and five miles from Dublin airport.

Ambience: This is a young, active university with more than 1,000 students living on campus and masses of extracurricular activities going on. There's a new sports club, with a 25-metre swimming pool, sauna, gym and tepidarium.

Vital statistics: A large business school with more than 1,600 undergraduates and 680 postgraduates. The school offers full-time undergraduate degrees in business, accounting, aviation management, finance and marketing. Many of the degrees have an "integrated training" work placement called INTRA, where students work for a company for six to 12 months, getting valuable on-the-job experience. There are also full- and part-time postgraduate degrees in accounting, finance, marketing, procurement, human resources and management available. The MBA programme runs part-time over two years, and focuses on developing students' knowledge, expertise and teamwork. It also covers organisational implementation, strategy design and renewal.

Added value: Because the business school has strong links with industry, there's an extremely high graduate employment rate – so you're likely to leave with a top job. The Learning, Innovation and Knowledge Research Centre (LInK) carries out research and consultancy for companies in knowledge management, work-life balance, change management, and organisational performance and learning.

Easy to get into? There are six undergraduate and 19 postgraduate programmes, all with differing entry requirements, but for the MBA you'll need a good first degree and a decent amount of business experience. International applicants will need to prove that they have a solid grasp of English.

Glittering alumni: Rosheen McGuckian, Group Corporate Development Director, NTR plc; Michael Dwyer, CEO, Empathy Marketing and founder of Pigsback.com; Lorraine Twohill, director of European marketing programmes, Google.

Gurus: Include Professor Brian Leavy, management; Professor Kathy Monks, human resources; Professor Colm O'Gorman, entrepreneurship; and Professor Bernard Pierce, accounting.

International connections: Member of the International Partnership of Business Schools (IPBS). Participants include Reims Management School in France and Universidad de Las Americas in Mexico. Many students spend time abroad in one of the partner universities as part of their degree.

Student profile: Average age on the MBA is 38.

Cost: €12,218 per year for the MBA.

Return on investment: The usual salary boost and a book of fantastic contacts.

Who's the boss? Professor Bernard Pierce is executive dean and professor of accounting.

Prospectus: +353 1 700 5265; www.dcu.ie; dcubs@dcu.ie