Doctor of Business Administration

Overview

• Make an original and substantial contribution to knowledge in business.
• Develop high level research and analytical skills, and depth of knowledge in your chosen field.
• Opportunity to graduate and follow an academic career in both teaching and research, or advance your professional career prospects.
• Complete in 3 years full-time or 6 years part-time.

Details

The DBA is a research-based qualification, designed to enable business professionals to make a substantial contribution to business practice by applying theoretical frameworks, methods and techniques towards solving contemporary and complex business problems.
This program suits business professionals who wish to improve their ability to make research-based business decisions. By undertaking the DBA, you will enhance and further develop your professional knowledge, skills and attributes while working to solve real-world problems using an empirical research framework.

You will develop your research and discipline-based knowledge and skill through the coursework units, independent research projects, and through your regular participation in professional development workshops with other cohort candidates.

Course length and mode

The QUT DBA can be completed in three to six years of study. The structure of the DBA program provides you with the option of maintaining full-time employment while undertaking the program. You may find that integrating your research with your work will allow you to accelerate your research phase and complete in the minimum amount of time.

If you currently hold postgraduate qualifications, such as an MBA or Master of Business, you may receive advanced standing for the first phase of the DBA program. This will enable you to start in your research skills training phase.

Course and career outcomes

Graduates will be positioned to be leaders within their industry with particular emphasis on research and development. Specifically, they will be able to:

• practise at a high level in a variety of organisational contexts
• apply innovative solutions to business problems and opportunities, through an understanding of new and relevant scholarship and the role and limitations of research in solving business problems
• present scholarly research to both academic and non-academic audiences.

Units

Course design

The program is structured in three phases:

Postgraduate business coursework

This phase consists of 48 credit points of postgraduate discipline units. You will study up to eight coursework units and gain a firm grounding in your chosen field of management.

Research skills training

Phase 2 consists of a further 48 credit points of coursework to prepare you for your research projects. You will be taught how to approach your research using contemporary qualitative and quantitative research methods. There are three compulsory research units (36 credit points) plus an additional 12 credit points of complementary research units.

These 12 credit points may consist of:

• two eGrad School six-credit-point units, or
• one 12-credit-point QUT Business School or University research unit.

The eGrad School brings together a wide range of online activities and resources that are specifically designed for early career researchers, whatever their home university or location. Visit www.egradschool.edu.au

Research component

This phase is the core of the DBA—the research projects. This is where you will show your superior expertise in business administration and your profession. This phase consists of 192 credit points, with two options for completion:

• one DBA dissertation of approximately 50 000 words documenting the research project or projects, or
• three research papers of publishable quality. Papers are defined as journal articles, book chapters, and other forms of written scholarly works which are subject to a process of peer review similar to that of refereed journals. Each paper would be approximately 15 000 words.

Entry requirements

Admission to the DBA course will be based on candidates having completed a minimum of five years senior level business or professional practice experience, and either:

• a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) with a GPA of 5.5 (on a scale of 7) or greater from QUT or another recognised institution; or
• a Masters degree in a business discipline area (e.g. Master of Business) with a GPA of 5.5 or greater from QUT or another recognised institution; or
• a Bachelor’s degree in a business discipline with first or second class Honours Division A, or equivalent, from QUT or another recognised institution.

Admission is  subject to these requirements, plus an interview with the Director Graduate Studies or the Assistant Dean (Research) and mutual acceptance of a study plan on a case-by-case basis, and subject to availability of a suitable supervisor.

Course fees

Your actual fees may vary depending on which units you choose. All fees are based on current fixed fee prices. We review fees annually.

There are no scholarships available for this program, however, sponsorship is possible.  Sponsorship arrangements should be prepared as part of the application process.

Scholarships and financial support

You can apply for scholarships to help you with study and living costs.

View all scholarships