Valued at €500 million, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland is an enterprise educator in the style of the US private university. Only 8 per cent of its funding comes from the State.
The rest has been raised through a range of canny investments at home and abroad over the past two decades. As a not-for-profit concern, all earnings are invested in developing the college and safeguarding its financial future. So where does all the money come from?
There are roughly 1,000 students at the RCSI, studying medicine, nursing, physiotherapy and pharmacy. Of these students, 80 per cent come from outside the EU and pay around €45 million in fees.
The RCSI is a large-scale property investor, owning such lucrative sites as the new Beaux Lane office building off St Stephen’s Green and sites in Sandyford, Blanchardstown, Beaumont and Waterford. The investments continue as management regard these properties as “endowments”.
The RCSI owns medical schools in Bahrain (MUB) and Penang, Malaysia (in partnership with UCD)
RCSI innovations in teaching and learning, such as the BeST programme for delivering online surgical training, are now being marketed overseas. The BeST programme is used by the National Health Service in the UK.
