Part of the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Smurfit Executive Development continues to build on its position as Ireland’s number one ranked provider of executive education with the addition of a number of new programmes designed to meet the needs of businesspeople in today’s rapidly changing environment. These new programmes include technology governance for board members and business leaders; executive presence and influence; and AI for real business impact.
“We are currently in the final phase of our 2022–2026 strategy, Creating a Better Future Together, which is focused on high impact, flexible, and tech-enabled learning,” says Tim Wray, director of UCD Smurfit Executive Development. “Smurfit Executive Development is ranked number one in Ireland and 47th globally for open enrolment and 56th for custom programmes in the Financial Times Executive Education Rankings 2025. We are also ranked in the top five in the UK and Ireland alongside schools like Oxford Saïd and Cambridge Judge.”
Programmes are taught by academic and industry leaders and diplomas and short courses offer executives the latest academic theory and business knowledge applicable to real-life situations. The portfolio of programmes includes business finance, coaching, strategy, organisational change, leadership development, corporate governance, high-performance sales and business development and digital innovation and transformation.
He notes the increased demand for courses in artificial intelligence (AI). “We are part of an organisation called Unicon, an alliance of the world’s leading university-based executive education providers,” he points out. “They carry out a benchmarking survey each year to look at what’s in demand for executive development programmes. In the latest survey, the usual stalwarts are still there – leadership, strategy, change management, innovation and finance continue to be in demand. But development programmes around generative AI (GenAI) are up 25 per cent globally.”
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The Smurfit Executive Development programme portfolio reflects that increase. “In the last two years we have instituted two professional diploma programmes – a diploma in digital innovation and transformation, and a diploma in AI and business analytics,” he says. “These are very in-depth programmes, and we have complemented them with a number of short courses that people can do in a few days.
“AI is a major research theme for the university as a whole,” he continues. “We can reach out across the university to dip into AI research in areas like food and healthcare which is being done by non-business scientists and bring it into our programmes.”
AI in executive development and learning will be the theme of the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) conference being hosted by Smurfit Executive Development in October. “It will come at it from a slightly sceptical perspective,” Wray says.
“It will explore questions like what is the real impact of AI? What are the real use cases? There is a lot of hype around AI, and the conference will look at the reality and where AI can produce real value. It’s not another internet bubble, but we are still grappling with what it means.”
Alongside its blend of open enrolment diploma programmes and short courses, Smurfit Executive Development also offers customised programmes designed to address the specific talent development needs and strategic challenges faced by individual organisations. These programmes are co-created with corporate clients to ensure high impact and relevance. Current and previous clients include Bord Bia, Tusla, Mater Hospital and Coillte.
“We are ranked third for growth in customised programmes globally by the Financial Times despite competition from providers here in Ireland and internationally,” he notes. “When we are working with organisations, we have to prove we can deliver measurable impact for them. It is all about supporting organisations in executing strategy. It might be about building capability but doing it through a strategy and leadership lens.”
While the programmes might focus on a technology like AI, they are not aimed at training participants to become technical experts. “It’s not about turning people into coders,” he says “Leaders need to know enough about digital technology because it is going to be pervasive in how they offer products and services to their customers. It might be about transformation and culture change. It might also be about strengthening the talent bench. They use executive development for that, and we have to make sure we can prove why they should come to us for it.”
That means adapting to meet changing needs and preferences. Many customised programmes are a blend of in-person and online delivery, he explains. “We have an e-business learning team with world class capability and that gives us the infrastructure to support the development and delivery of the online aspects of executive development.”
Unicon research has revealed a gradual return to in-person delivery since the end of the Covid pandemic, Wray says. “Our global clients are keen to bring people together despite the additional costs. Executive development is different to training. It’s more of a personally transformative journey and there is a lot of peer learning involved. About 50 per cent of the learning comes from other people in the room.”
He believes organisations appreciate the significant importance of in-person delivery to the learning process. “Executive development is enriched by in-person delivery,” he says. “When you bring people together face to face, it facilitates real engagement in the room and the sharing of knowledge and insights.”
The continued growth in customised programmes has driven further investment in Smurfit Executive Development, he notes. “As a result of that growth, the university has backed us in expanding our team and our capabilities giving us the ability to cater for further growth in the coming years.”
Returning to the open enrolment side, he points out that the short programmes are purely developmental while the diploma programmes offer a pathway to an MSc in business (leadership and management practice) or an MSc in business and executive coaching.
“We offer a flexible learning pathway,” he explains. “Our programmes have been stackable for over 10 years and people can stack three diplomas to earn a master’s degree. We will continue to look at ways of delivering small bite-sized chunks of stackable learning.”
For more information visit smurfitschool.ie/executivedevelopment.
