Good news for TCD - it's the first Irish university to receive international accreditation for its MBA (masters in business administration) from the Association of MBAs (AMBA). AMBA's accreditation programme provides an independent validation of MBA programmes. Factors assessed include the availability of research material and facilities, calibre of staff, international contacts, admission standards for students and exam results. TCD's MBA programme is in good company: the MBA programmes of Oxford and Cambridge have also been recognised this year. They join other top-rated European business schools-Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Paris. Up until now, TCD, in common with all the Irish universities, has relied on the external-examiner system to guarantee standards. However, the use of external assessments against specific criteria has been growing - first in the US and more latterly in Europe. Dr Paul Coughlan, director of TCD's MBA programme explains: "People would look at programmes like ours and ask: `Why are they not accredited?' " he says. "We decided to subject ourselves to review by AMBA."

In the event, TCD was awarded certification for five years. "That's quite unusual," Coughlan comments. "It puts us at the top. You can also be rejected, given a three years' certificate or a conditional one year's cert. There's no ranking system, but getting five years' certification at the first attempt is quite an achievement." TCD takes up to 36 graduates on to its one-year full-time MBA programme. The average age of applicants is 29 years and they are expected to have six or seven years' business experience. One third of the class is Irish. Fees this year are £10,500.