Doctor of business administration

The Doctor of Business Administration (abbreviated DBA or D.B.A.) is a research doctorate awarded on the basis of advanced study and research in the field of business administration. The D.B.A. is a terminal degree in business administration, and is equivalent to the Ph.D in Business Administration. Successful completion of a D.B.A. is often required to gain employment as a university professor or researcher in the field. As with other earned research doctorates, individuals with the degree use the title "Doctor" in their name. The post-nominal letters "D.B.A." or "DBA" are often used as well.

D.B.A. candidates submit a significant project, thesis or dissertation consisting of a body of original academic research, which is in principle worthy of publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Candidates must defend this work before a panel of expert examiners. Universities award other types of doctorates, most notably the Ph.D.

D.B.A. programs have a dual purpose: contribute to business theory and further develop the professional practice (e.g. contribute to professional knowledge in business). Universities generally require candidates to have significant experience in business, particularly in roles with leadership or other strategic responsibilities. D.B.A. candidates specialize in areas such as management science, information technology management, organizational behaviour, economics, finance and the like. As with other doctorate programs, curricula may be offered on a full-time or part-time basis. According to the European higher education standards set by the Bologna Process, the normal duration of doctorate programs like the D.B.A. is 4 years of full-time study.

The responsibility for the structure of doctoral programs resides within the graduate research degrees committees or their equivalent within the university. As such, D.B.A programs have a specific set of university regulations and are subject to quality approval processes. Regulations include references to protocols for treating ethical issues in research. These regulations are widely used in Australian Universities. For instance, a D.B.A student cannot embark on the research phase before passing all his or her coursework. Furthermore, upon passing the proposal stage, he or she must clear ethics-related issues with the Ethics Committee. The D.B.A candidate must go through numerous internal moderations of the dissertation before submitting to external examinations (usually at least two). Successful candidates usually revise their dissertations numorous times before final approval is granted from the doctoral committee.

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