Talk the talk

Professor Donal Dineen, dean of the University of Limerick’s Kemmy Business School, talks to David Clerkin.

I understand the business school became the Kemmy Business School a year ago next month. Please tell me about it.

The school has 2,500 students, 2,000 of whom are undergraduates. Our flagship programme is the Bachelor of Business Studies degree, which is the largest undergraduate business programme in the country with an intake of 400 new students every year. Other undergraduate programmes include Law and Accounting and Production Management. At postgraduate level, we offer an MBA (Masters of Business Administration), as well as an MSc in Financial Services (which started last year) and an MBS in Entrepreneurship, among others. We also offer research-based degrees.

How did the business school come to be named after Jim Kemmy (a former Limerick TD for Labour and the Democratic Socialist Party)?

The school was given €5 million towards the cost of a new building by an anonymous donor, on condition that we named the school after Jim Kemmy. We’ll need to raise a total of between €15 million and €20 million to fund the building.

What countries will these students come from?

China is popular, but the problem with marketing there is that British universities have been doing it for years and have a head-start on us. Ideally we’d propose having a partnership arrangement whereby Chinese students spend three years in a home university and then a further three in Limerick. We’re also looking at Malaysia and other countries in southeast Asia to a lesser extent.

What are the challenges in attracting these students? If they're coming to Ireland, do they express a preference for Dublin?

There’s relatively little difficulty in attracting students to different parts of the country. The main challenge is to attract them to Ireland at all.

How important are links between universities and industry?

They’re absolutely vital. We’ve always had strong links with industry through our students having a dedicated programme of work experience. The school has put in place a new business advisory board that formalises links with businesses.

How would you describe the current environment for business schools?

There’s a lot of competition at undergraduate level. The cohort of students between 18 and 20 is falling and it’ll be important for us to diversify internationally.

And funding?

All universities are being squeezed and we may need to look at alternative sources to add to what we get from the government. The Government appears to think in terms of providing a pool of funding for all education, and primary level is getting the emphasis at present. Third level shouldn’t be competing with primary - universities and business schools should be seen as part of our economic development.