The Digital Marketing Institute (DMI) has agreed an education partnership with IBAT College Dublin, which will deliver classroom-based digital marketing courses from the DMI starting in September.

The agreement means that DMI will cease to provide classroom digital marketing courses, though the Institute will continue to offer courses online. The company says the move will free up time and resources to concentrate on extending the reach of DMI's certification internationally.

Co-founder Anthony Quigley (pictured) said licensing the DMI certification in overseas markets has resulted in a 135% growth in revenue in the past year.

“To best service the Irish market we are replicating what we do in the other 70 countries in which we operate, by appointing a licence partner to deliver local classroom training and focusing our resources on the quality of our product and certification,” said Quigley.

"The Digital Marketing Institute continues to provide certified digital marketing education in Ireland. We have partnered with IBAT to deliver classroom-based training of our courses while we concentrate on delivering online training in Ireland and around the globe.

In Association with

“The partnership with IBAT College brings Ireland in line with our other 70 markets globally, where we offer online and corporate training directly, along with classroom training being provided by our partners, who are local education providers."

Shane Ormsby, Director of IBAT College Dublin said: “We are delighted to partner with the Digital Marketing Institute to deliver its courses in Dublin city centre. DMI accredited courses ensure that students receive a high quality and relevant digital marketing education.”

Pearson Contract

Quigley said that over 10,000 people in 70 countries have graduated with a DMI qualification, making it the most widely taught digital marketing qualification in the world. In 2014, DMI agreed a contract with Pearson VUE to make DMI exams available in 5,200 supervised test centres around the world.

Digital Marketing Institute Ltd booked a loss of €191,000 in 2013 and had a deficit in shareholders’ funds of €185,000 at year end. Sister company Digital Marketing Institute International Ltd booked a loss of €85,000 in 2013.

Both companies are funded by parent company Digital Marketing Institute Group Ltd, which is funded with €246,000 equity investment from shareholders and €200,000 investment from Enterprise Ireland.

Quigley commented: “The reason for our partnership with IBAT is our rapid international growth. A period of investment in the business has led to profitability and resulted in our geographic reach and student numbers doubling year-on-year from 2013 to 2014.”

DMI certifies students to Diploma, Postgraduate and Masters levels in various aspects of digital marketing.

In recent years, DMI has faced competition from taxpayer-subsidised courses. In Dun Laoghaire, where DMI is based, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Local Enterprise Office, which receives state funding of around €1m a year, is currently advertising an eight week training course (24 hours) in online marketing, priced at just €150.

“Regarding taxpayer-subsidised courses here in Ireland we don’t feel we’ve faced any unfair competition,” said Quigley. “Any schemes by the government to increase the pool of digital talent in Ireland are fully supported by us. We’re working directly with the HEA this year to provide a number of Springboard+ places on our online Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Marketing programme.”