What is the Executive Master of Business Administration?
On the SETU MBA programme, you will develop skills and learn concepts that will accelerate your career, serving you throughout your professional life. The course is about personal accomplishment, new insights and frameworks for thinking, about building stronger skills, expanding horizons, good governance and leadership in a challenging corporate environment.
A key feature of our cross-campus executive MBA programme is the capacity to interact first hand with practitioners and leaders from across industry, the public and private sector, and from regional and national stakeholder organisations including NGOs. These immersive experiences are facilitated through engaging with virtual and live guest speakers, ‘live’ case studies involving real-life subjects and businesses, challenge-based learning events, and webinars.
Lecturers cultivate the personal and professional goals and aspirations of all our postgraduate MBA learners. Our approach is underpinned by a strong focus on networking and dissemination opportunities for our students. Across all themes, and within the modules, MBA candidates are encouraged to participate in networking activities to support the cross-fertilisation of ideas, knowledge and practices.
SETU Faculty of Business is also an active member of the MBA Association Ireland and we regularly host events which enhance the learning and professional development of our students. The SETU Executive MBA group were previous winners of the All-Ireland Strategy Case competition on six separate occasions. Organised by the MBA Association of Ireland, the competition is open to all MBA programmes across Ireland, past winners having included UCD, NUIG, DCU and TU Dublin.
Unique features of our cross-campus Executive MBA programme:
Our cross-campus MBA programme has a core focus on business sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), providing innovative challenge-based learning tools and techniques that integrates these principles into the mainstream learner experiences and inter-campus activities.
Our MBA currently sits within a network of partners in the south east of Ireland who are dedicated to sustainable business. Students engage in action research with partnering companies and the opportunity to develop both tacit and explicit knowledge in sustainability and ESG, adding to the economic and social development of the region.
We offer our students the opportunity to participate in an international study programme to Boston where they attend lectures and workshops at Boston university as well as participating in a range of networking events with US businesses.
Our students get to experience a real action learning project where they are mentored to participate in an applied ‘Organisational Change Research’ project in their organisation.
Our MBA leverages technology and technology-enhanced tools, and emerging AI capacity to facilitate real-time interactions and collaboration among participating students, companies and faculty across our campuses. Video conferencing tools, online learning platforms, and collaborative software are used for lectures, group discussions, and project work.
We integrate joint projects and involvement in national strategy case competitions into the SETU MBA programme, fostering a sense of belonging and connection to a larger national MBA community.
Delivery
This programme will be delivered through a blend of lectures and independent study. Students will be required to attend SETU campus for one afternoon (Thursday) and evening of lectures and a half day Saturday.
Year 1
Semester 1
Semester 2
Leadership & Organisational Behaviour
Professional Development 1
Marketing Management
Operational Excellence
Managing People
Accounting for Managers
Organisational Change 1**
Year 2
Semester 3
Semester 4
International Management*
Professional Development 2
Strategic Management
Info Systems & Digital Marketing
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Corporate Finance
Business Economics
Organisational Change Research Project
Organisational Change 2**
* International Management is delivered as a one week study trip to Boston at the start of year two of the programme
** We do allow multiple entry points to our MBA which means that while semester one is only offered every two Years (September 2025, September 2026, etc), students can enter our MBA at the start of semesters one, two or three. However, students must complete Organisational Change 1 before Organisational Change 2 regardless of the semester in which they join.
There is no single formula for a successful applicant. Candidates are evaluated for their achievements, their potential, and the fit between what they aspire to achieve and what our MBA Program has to offer. If you believe that the EMBA may be right for you, we encourage you to get all the information that you need to apply to our program. Join us at one of the information events we run throughout the region, or arrange a consultation with the programme director to discuss your interest.
When making an application, we specifically look for:
A degree or equivalent. In some cases where managers have exceptional experience (of at least 10 years), an application will be considered
Minimum age of 23 years
At least three years of relevant professional business experience
Satisfactory performance at an admission interview
Applicants whose first language is not English must submit evidence of competency in English, please see SETU’s English Language Requirements for details.
Once our application portal opens, the link to apply will appear on the course page above.
Subject to satisfying the aforementioned entry criteria, applicants will be offered places on a first-come-first-served basis per their application submission.
We have recently redesigned our MBA programme so that students can work on action research assignments in their own organisations. Candidates on the programme also participate in a number of professional development workshops and travel to Boston as part of an international study tour at our partner university, Boston University. These interventions have supported our students to take up positions across all types of organisations, from leading technology innovators such as Salesforce to consulting firms and banks such as AIB and State Street Bank. Wherever you want to work, our professional development and networking events help to connect our students to leading organisations in Ireland and overseas.
Some MBA graduates have published their Action Research studies in international journals and others have compiled reports on the work to present to their organisations.
Graduates have also continued their studies and pursued doctoral degrees either with SETU or elsewhere. These students have taken either the Doctorate in Business Administration or pursued the structured PhD programme at our university.
Whether your goal is to progress within your organisation, take on new responsibilities or pursue and enhance an entrepreneurial route, the programme will give you the knowledge, insights, network and confidence to succeed.
Student Testimonial
“From a personal perspective the idea generation, debates, discussions, and connections created on my MBA journey have enabled me to fulfill personal and academic goals. The sense of achievement on successfully completing my MBA was wonderful!”
Ms Heather Reynolds, Chief People Officer, Scurri, Wexford
“The student and staff engagement on SETU’s Executive MBA exceeded my expectations and the programme has greatly benefited me from a personal and professional viewpoint.”
Dr Paul O’Driscoll, Assistant Commissioner, An Garda Siochana, Dublin
“A key part of the MBA experience for me was the engaging interactions with fellow students which has been a great benefit to me during and beyond the completion of my MBA.”
Ms Claire Phelan, General Manager, UPMC Aut Even Hospital, Kilkenny
“I found the EMBA programme here to be very beneficial – the strong staff-student interactions, the emphasis on teamwork and the focused dissertation - gave me the skills and confidence to deal with a variety of management issues in my organisation”
Mr Tom Healy, Vice President Custody, State Street Bank, Kilkenny
"I found the Executive MBA programme to be a challenging but rewarding experience. The structure of the programme is suitable for executives based in the south east region and the lecturers involved are very supportive. The interactive nature of the course facilitates learning from classmates while also broadening one's professional and social network, and the action research project allows one to apply learning to the workplace in a very practical manner. The international study trip to Boston was also a real highlight and the overall balance between academic material and practice is impressive."
Mr Mark Rogers, Director of Human Resources, Garrett Motion Ireland, Waterford
“My MBA here was an amazing experience. While I was working at board level within my company for a numbers of years and felt I knew the business well, the MBA thought me many other aspects of running a business that are required for success. I have since being appointed the MD of my company and I can safely say that without my MBA I wouldn’t have achieved that goal. It is an excellent programme run by very experience and professional staff who always made themselves available to the students throughout the course.”
Mr John O'Shaughnessy, Managing Director, Clancy Constructon Ltd., Thurles, Tipperary
"I can thoroughly recommend the EMBA programme. I had been looking to do a personal development programme for some time and this proved to be an excellent choice, which embellished and complimented my previous industry experience. The whole faculty were extremely supportive as were my classmates, all of which have now become integral to my professional network. The course itself is a blended approach of academic material and industry practice, which when put together is very engaging. More importantly, my EMBA has proved invaluable in my career since, allowing me to move across industry in a leadership capacity with the confidence and skillset to deliver value adding service to our company and customers alike."
Mr. Michael Healy, Strategy and Performance Lead, Senior Leadership Team, AbbVie, Cork
