Program Overview

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Higher Diploma in Business

Overview

The Higher Diploma in Business is a one-year full-time (two academic semesters) or eighteen-month (three academic semesters) part-time programme with 12 taught modules (60 ECTS). All modules are mandatory and equal 5 ECTS.

The programme is designed as a conversion course for graduates of a Level 8 non-cognate degree who aspire to enter the business world and to enter a management role. Graduates will be eligible for general management roles or management roles within a specific subfield of business complimenting their previous experience and learning.

The programme is designed with an interdisciplinary focus reflective of the opportunities and challenges as well as the changing needs of today’s business environment. Modules on the programme range from Management and Organisational Behaviour, Marketing, Business ICT, Legal Issues for Business, Economics, Human Capital Management, Business Finance, Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise, and a capstone Business Strategy to the newly added Operations Management, Supply Chain Management and Business Sustainability. Modules comprise of formative and summative assessments as well as group work and presentations.

The programme is aimed at both domestic and international learners who seek an underpinning in key business theories, concepts as well as business processes, strategies and skills. The programme ensures learners acquire an integrated, balanced, and dynamic business education enabling the development of business knowledge, including previously acquired knowledge and experience. The programme engenders an awareness of the importance of transferable and cross-enterprise skills required of competitive organisations and which stimulate sustainable and diverse careers in business.

The Higher Diploma in Business also permits entry to further Higher Education Institutions or to a number of Level 9 Business programmes such as the MSc Management Practice, MSc Marketing, MSc in Supply Chain Management and Master of Business Administration.

Aims and Objectives

The objectives of the Higher Diploma in Business programme are:

1. Equip learners with an understanding of the theory and principles underlying business function(s) and administration.
2. Advance in learners an appropriate expertise in the major aspects of business, and an awareness of core disciplines.
3. Develop a range of key interpersonal skills, characteristics and attitudes to learners to work professionally, individually and in a team.
4. Cultivate in learners a range of key skills, personal qualities and attitudes essential to support progression to a career in business or to further academic study.
5. Develop a learner capacity to organise diverse information, arguments, and conclusions and present them in a clear coherent way.
6. Relate business principles, concepts and theories and frameworks to a wide range of business and industry settings.
7. Correlate the various functions of business and demonstrate this awareness by producing a multi-faceted and innovative business strategy.
8. Enable learners to apply their learning through in their professional lives reflecting their professional and personal development.

Delivery

Learners are taught in a hybrid delivery with in-person and live online formats. Classes are designed so as to allow learners to interact, to encourage a collaborative environment for the class itself and to afford learners the opportunity to liaise with lecturers in a classroom environment to support them in their project development. Experienced faculty, in terms of learner engagement, are proactive in ensuring that learners are cognisant of the requirement to engage in debates, and discussions and in providing updates on assessment progression, with online or in-classroom sessions.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirements for the Higher Diploma in Business are:

• A Level 8 primary honours bachelor degree award of at least pass level in a non-cognate discipline from a recognised third-level institution qualification.
• For applicants whose first language is not English and who have not previously undertaken a degree taught in English must provide evidence of proficiency in the English language equivalent to B2+ or above on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL). This must be evidenced through a recognised English Language test such as IELTS, Cambridge Certificate or DBS English assessment. Test certificates should be dated within the last two years to be considered valid.
• Equivalence of overseas awards will be assessed via the NARIC Ireland Foreign Qualifications Database.
• The recognition and evaluation of experiential learning (RPL) will be determined on a case-by-case basis. In such instances, an interview of the candidate may be required. Applicants will be required to complete the application form and provide written evidence as to their application for acceptance to the programme with prior experiential learning. The DBS Quality Assurance Handbook details the exact procedure for evaluating such applications.

Structure

The Higher Diploma in Business is a one-year full-time (two academic semesters) or eighteen-month (three academic semesters) part-time programme with 12 taught modules (60 ECTS). All modules are mandatory and equal 5 ECTS.

In full-time delivery, this is balanced between 6 modules in semester one and 6 modules in semester 2. Furthermore, the alignment means that students will have lectures over 3 days with 2 modules per day for continuity. In part-time delivery, this is balanced between 4 modules in semesters 1, 2 and 3.

Semester one (FT) lays the groundwork for the programme and encompasses foundational modules on Business Operations Management, Business ICT, Legal Issues for Business, Business Sustainability, Economics in the Business Environment, and Management and Organisational Behaviour. Semester two (FT) gives the learner a more strategic and critical approach to business and business administration with modules on Human Capital Management, Global Marketing, Business Finance, Innovation, Creativity, and Enterprise, Supply Chain Management, and the Capstone module Business Strategy.

Therefore, graduates will have the skills necessary to move into a management role within a variety of business functions such as marketing, people management or management of a department such as ICT within an organisation. They will have the business expertise to take a strategic view of business opportunities and challenges, and graduates will effectively integrate cutting-edge analytics into decision-making in their company. In this way, the Higher Diploma in Business offers a consolidated and emphasised focus on strategic business decision-making fully integrated with transferrable skills development as an effective means to improve business performance, productivity, and efficiency.

Career Opportunities

Learners who complete the Higher Diploma in Business will develop business acumen through formative and summative assessments, which capture the resilience and agility required of graduates in contemporary and diverse business environments. The need and relevance of agility for an organisation is bedded in each module delivery and assessment, and the learner will see how and why an organisation must function to ensure profitability, sustainability, relevance, and growth. The programme is rooted in creating a well-rounded business graduate whose insights will inform strategic business decisions, from financial to people management, designed to increase productivity, profitability and an organisation’s value and market share. The programme enables the learner to commence their career in business as well as underpinning further business postgraduate studies.

Fees

The course fees for the next academic year are €6,600 full-time and part-time for EU students.

International Fees

EU Fees

You can also contact our admissions team who would be happy to discuss the options available for you.

Please note also that there is tax relief for Irish income tax payers at the standard rate of 20% on all fees exceeding €1,000 and up to €7,000.

All QQI accredited programmes of education and training of 3 months or longer duration offered by Dublin Business School (DBS) are covered by arrangements under section 65 (4) (b) of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012 whereby in the event that DBS ceases to provide the programme, for any reason, after learners have started on that programme, Kaplan Inc., as guarantor, will refund the moneys most recently paid by or for the learner. More details are included in the terms and conditions of learner admission to DBS (conditions) and on programme handbooks provided at induction.

Improve your employability

All of our postgraduate courses offer strong links with industry and the professional world and often carry accreditation from professional bodies. By choosing to study at postgraduate level, not only do you gain valuable skills and experience but you also demonstrate your determination to succeed in a chosen career. Far from being a postponement to employment, postgraduate study can help you progress further and faster in your chosen career. And, if you're not certain what direction you would like your future to take, further study can provide a secure and structured space to help you find out through exploring your strengths and interests.

Gain skills for success

During your undergraduate degree you will have developed a strong foundation of transferable skills. Postgraduate study will build on this base, giving you the opportunity to put these highly valuable skills in to practice. You will also gain invaluable practical working examples that you can go on to use at interview to set you apart from other candidates.

Teaching and Assessment

This second Strategy for Learning, Assessment and Teaching Enhancement (SLATE2) outlines Dublin Business School’s academic delivery priorities for the coming three years. The purpose of SLATE2 is to outline a number of goals, objectives and actions to guide DBS to achieving its strategic objectives as they relate to teaching and learning, while best preparing DBS for the future of higher education. The Higher Diploma in Business has been designed with SLATE2 firmly at the forefront of thinking.

The three overriding goals of SLATE2 are:

1. Outstanding Learning meaning a measurable engaging transformative learning experience that ensures our graduates are prepared for employment;
2. Immersive Learning meaning a learning environment that learners can immerse themselves in totally anytime and anywhere; and
3. An Ecosystem of Learning meaning ‘An effective and complex interconnected network of people, processes and activities that recognises that all members of DBS at all times are empowered and impacting the learning experience’.

Each goal is accompanied by a number of objectives and a series of actions. The Higher Diploma in Business programme has taken these goals and ambitions into account whilst designing the programme. It recognises the centrality of preparing work-ready graduates whilst providing an environment for learning which tallies with the changes being undergone in the world of education and society generally, in terms of flexible delivery options allowing for multimodal learning and alternative routes of assessment.

The Higher Diploma in Business has been developed along the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which includes the value of offering authentic opportunities for assessment and assessing engagement as well as content. The updated modules have taken these considerations on board in producing a number of assessment modifications, with a stress being placed in a number of modules on the value of short defences and presentations to demonstrate an ability to coherently defend written pieces of assessment, whilst considering the incorporation of various tools to do so, whether they be posters, e-books or verbal presentations/defences.

Student Testimonial

"I was looking for a postgrad in Dublin, that wasn’t as specialized as a masters and I found a course in DBS. I didn’t do business as my undergrad so I wanted to choose a post grad that gave me a taste of what the business world had to offer.

I liked the small classes, it gave me the opportunity to get to know everyone. I felt that my lecturers were fantastic and they really encouraged me and gave me good feedback, which allowed me to excel in the course.

Before I began the course, I felt quite lost, not knowing what I wanted to do, whereas now I have more of an idea in the direction I want to go with my career. I’m hoping to either be working in a marketing firm or set up my own business. Having finished my course, I feel a lot more confident in myself. When I go to interviews, I feel like the employer can see I have the knowledge to back everything up that I’m saying."

Laoise Grennan Higher Diploma in Business

Course Details

Awarding Body: Quality & Qualifications Ireland (QQI)

Award: Higher Diploma

NFQ Level: Level 8

Award Title: Higher Diploma in Business

Award Type: Major

Duration: Full-time: 1 Year Part-time: 18 months

Next Intake: September 2025

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Full-time:

Semester 1

| Core Modules: Business Operations Management Business ICT Legal Issues for Business Business Sustainability Economics in the Business Environment Management and Organisational Behaviour |

Semester 2

| Core Modules: Human Capital Management Global Marketing Business Finance Innovation, Creativity, and Enterprise Supply Chain Management Business Strategy (Capstone) |

Part-time:

Semester 1

| Core Modules: Business Operations Management Business ICT Legal Issues for Business Business Sustainability |

Semester 2

| Core Modules: Economics in the Business Environment Management and Organisational Behaviour Human Capital Management Global Marketing |

Semester 3

| Core Modules: Business Finance Innovation, Creativity, and Enterprise Supply Chain Management Business Strategy (Capstone) |