UCD Smurfit Executive Development marks a European Union first in Team Coaching Accreditation

UCD Smurfit Executive Development is among the first University Business Schools globally, and the first in the EU and in Ireland, to have had its Professional Diploma in Team Coaching accredited by EMCC Global.

In September 2017, UCD Smurfit Executive Development launched the first cohort of its Professional Diploma in Team Coaching. September 2022 will see its fourth intake of this highly popular programme among internal and external coaches.

Team Coaching is a relatively new practice compared to individual coaching and mentoring. EMCC Global has responded to this emerging field, working with a number of valued partners, including faculty from UCD Smurfit Executive Development, to develop the EMCC Global Team Coaching Quality Award (TCQA) for education and training programmes, and the EMCC Global Individual Team Coaching (ITCA) Accreditation and Professional Designation.

The EMCC Global TCQA is an accreditation that shows the education and training has met a set of core standards, applied rigour in assessment, and demonstrated a track record of impactful and practical learning and development for team coaching practitioners.

‘The accreditation of the Diploma in Team Coaching at Senior Practitioner level is a great validation for the quality of the programme but now also offers our alumni and future participants a pathway to be individually recognised as best in class in the field of team coaching’ said Colm Murphy, Head of Coaching Programme at UCD Smurfit Executive Development. ‘This accreditation is a recognition of the programme’s quality from international independent peers and is part of our guarantee that participants on the UCD Diploma in Team Coaching will receive a top quality, internationally recognised qualification’.

Denise Whitworth, EMCC Global Vice-president Accreditation said ‘This achievement is testament to the drive of Colm and his team. Colm himself provided valuable insight and leadership within EMCC Global as a valued member of the WorkGroup researching and drawing up the core standards for team coaching. His experience within UCD Smurfit strengthened the standards themselves. Congratulations to UCD Smurfit, and to Colm for ensuring the team coaching programme within UCD Smurfit is one of the very first in this important and emerging field’.

‘In a VUCA environment, optimal team functioning is both more important and more difficult than ever. Team coaching can provide the antidote to VUCA in a way that no other team development initiative has been able to do thus far. With this award, UCD Smurfit Executive Development’s long-standing commitment to excellence in business education, and in the development of impactful leader and coaches in the modern organisation, is endorsed”’continued Helen Brophy, Head of UCD SED

UCD Smurfit Executive Development has been consecutively ranked as one of the world’s best by the prestigious Financial Times Rankings over the last six years. Programmes are taught by academic and industry leaders and diplomas and short courses offer executives the latest academic theory and business knowledge applicable to real-life situations. The portfolio of programmes includes coaching, strategy, leadership development, corporate governance, business finance, and high-performance sales and business development.

UCD Smurfit Executive Development is a member of UNICON, an invitation-only alliance of the world’s leading university-based executive education providers. International peer schools include London Business School and ESADE Business School; as well as Ivy League business schools Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, which are top ranked executive education providers for Open Enrolment Programmes.

UCD Smurfit Executive Development is part of the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Ireland’s leading business school and research centre offering world-class business programmes that equip students to become impactful business leaders. UCD Smurfit School is the only business school in Ireland, and one of an elite group of schools worldwide, to hold the ‘triple crown’ of accreditation from three centres of business and academic excellence—EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA.

EMCC is a global coaching, mentoring, and supervision association established in 1992. EMCC is made up of Affiliated Countries & Regions in Asia Pacific, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. We have over 10,000 members across more than 85 countries world-wide.

EMCC exists to develop, promote, and set the expectation of best practice globally in mentoring, coaching, and supervision. Our vision is to be the ‘go to’ body in mentoring, coaching, and supervision.

Over 50,000 education and training participants have graduated from EMCC Global Quality Award accredited programmes worldwide. EMCC Global is very proud to be a trusted partner of some of the most prestigious providers of coaching, mentoring, and supervision training and post graduate study; and organisational executive leaders and their teams, who have established distinguished and ‘world renowned’ coach, mentor and supervision programmes. More and more practitioners are choosing EMCC Global for their Accreditation because of the depth of thinking, reflection, and innovation. EMCC Global accredits individuals (leaders, coaches, mentors and supervisors), training programmes, and organisations. EMCC Global is proud to recognise and validate prior learning and experience.

For more information on accreditation contact Denise Whitworth, EMCC Global Vice-president Accreditation

For more information on EMCC Global visit www.emccglobal.org or contact us on