Comm and get it at UCD

Established in 1908, UCD's faculty of commerce is still celebrating its 90th year. And as business schools go, that is really rather old. "Even in the USA, business schools only date as far back as the 1910s and 1920s," comments the faculty dean, Professor Philip Bourke. UCD, along with UCC and NUI Galway, was early in the field, he surmises, because of their mission to provide professional training for the Catholic middle classes. At UCD, medicine and law were important faculties; providing the Catholic business community with academic credentials was a natural progression.

"UCD's BComm has been a dominant player in the business market," the dean says. "Through our night degree we educated huge numbers of people, including large chunks of the civil service."

It was back in 1964 that UCD developed its MBA programme. "We were the first in Europe to do so," Bourke notes. The MBA was followed in 1970 by the first specialist master's degree - the master's in in business studies. "For an older institution we have a fairly strong record of innovation."

Four years ago, following a review, UCD's undergraduate commerce programmes were "radically overhauled - root and branch" and made more flexible. A number of courses have been dropped and the subject choice has been improved and simplified. Regulations, too, have been relaxed. Students can now work their way through their degree programmes at their own pace. "The course is much more flexible and students can now spend four years completing it rather than three," the dean says.

According to Dr Cathal Brugha of UCD's department of management information systems, standards in the marketplace have risen and employers are are demanding more of young graduates. "We are trying to address the needs of the next generation," he says.

Huge changes in business practice and the influence of technology have called for major curriculum changes. Finance, for example, is becoming a branch of mathematics, Bourke says. Process rather than product has now become the focus of UCD's faculty of commerce, Bourke asserts. By offering a broad range of electives, students can be taught in smaller classes. "These self-selecting groups with particular interests create a very powerful environment," the dean notes. "We're making huge efforts to develop students' powers of analysis and critical thinking."

Nowadays, commerce students spend less time simply receiving and digesting information than they did in the past.

The current crop of first-years are benefiting from a pilot study group programme based on real case studies. "We break the class up into groups of 20, each with a facilitator, and examine a particular business problem. The group discusses the case, conducts research and then writes a report," explains Dr Martin Butler, the faculty's dean of undergraduate studies.

"The reaction from the students is excellent," Butler says. "Students develop invaluable skills by working through the process." A major endeavour of the faculty is to ensure that graduates will be equipped to adjust to rapidly changing business environments. "Twenty years ago, you went into a company and worked your way up," Brugha remarks. "You were 30 before you started making decisions. Today, a business graduate with two years' experience in the workplace could be in charge of a budget of £20 million." "Students coming straight from school seek certainty," Bourke says. They want to be sure that if they do X, they will get Y. But business isn't like that. Our job is to get them to recognise that that they will be dealing with huge uncertainties in their careers. Part of our mission is to create a discomfort zone."

DESPITE THE uncertainties of the business climate, however, one thing is for sure: the proposed new commerce building is set to become a major preoccupation of the faculty over the next few years. Businessman Loughlin Quinn has donated £3.5 million to the project, which it is estimated will cost a total of £12 million. The final design of the building has yet to be decided.

"How we deliver the courses will affect the configuration of the building," Bourke says. "The challenge is to build something that will last and still be useful in 20 years' time. Should they build regular lecture theatres, or circular halls with a central lectern and every student with his or her own PC? "The issue that faces UCD is that it is a big national institution. We can't afford to opt for a niche market and take a view that technology will develop in one way or another. There's no real model out there."

Other issues to be examined include staffing. "Do we want to attract a critical mass of academic staff or do we want to rely on videoconferencing - e.g. using people in the US via video link?" the dean asks. UCD's faculty of commerce boasts an enrolment of 2,000 undergraduates and 1,000 postgraduates. The latter are based on the Carysfort campus, Blackrock, in the Smurfit Business School. At any one time, the school offers tuition to some 200 MBA students, 300 master's of business students and 100 master's in accountancy students. Academic staff divide their time between the Belfield and Carysfort locations.