IMI to become integrated part of UCC

THE Irish Management Institute and UCC are understood to have signed a draft completion memorandum that should see the institute fully merged with the Cork university in the coming months.

Both sides entered talks last year with a view to making the institute a fully integrated part of UCC.

Neither side was prepared to say anything when contacted recently about the ongoing negotiations or about the state of the IMI’s finances.

Tom McCarthy, head of the IMI, said a lot of issues had still to be resolved before he could comment. Mr McCarthy is a graduate of UCC and lectured there in the early part of his career.

It is understood a new executive training campus will be set up as a full service campus after the merger,offering a wide range of courses.

London’s Henley Centre is one possible model under consideration for the new training body.

Henley is a global leader in executive education and is Britain’s oldest business school, with over 60 years experience.

The recession has hit the IMI and it has lost out significantly in the number of short-term courses in particular being taken at present.

As a result of the downturn in its core business the institute moved from making a profit of €500,000 on its courses in 2007 to a loss of €1.3 million the following year.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that following a more difficult 2009, that loss could have doubled.

Despite the financial difficulties facing the group, it is expected the merger with UCC will be signed off on before the end of the first quarter of 2010.

The Sandyford, Co Dublin-based institute is aiming to improve its rankings in executive education, which includes a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programme and several degrees and diplomas in management, organisational behaviour and leadership.

It also offers training programmes geared specifically to individual needs.