PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Business Administration
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME
Both the Doctor of Business Administration and Ph.D. have as a general aim of provision of an academically rigorous education designed to develop skills, expertise, knowledge and vision to enable students, whatever their chosen route, to be critical, analytical and creative. The program aims to provide opportunity for self-development in relation to career enhancement and as life-long learners.
The program offers students the opportunity to develop their own capabilities, skills and competencies within a supported environment. The philosophy of the program can be summarized by the following objectives.
Develop a critical approach to the use of contemporary sources as a means of exploring complex concepts, ideas and issues of relevance and value to the chosen area of study.
Develop the power of critical enquiry, logical thought, creative imagination and independent judgment.
Provide a forum of study that allows each student to build on his or her past academic and vocational experience in a relevant and meaningful fashion.
Expose the student to a range of prospective, which may be applicable to both the interests and work situations as appropriate.
Recognize the variety of sources of learning and an appropriate diversity of means for assessing achievement.
This program intends to allow the individual student to develop their potential through a carefully selected curriculum of study, which includes elements of a variety of methods of study orientated around both the academic and vocational axis.
THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMS ARE TO:
• Enable the student to achieve an appropriate level of academic competence.
• Achieve personal development and to develop critical awareness of benefit to themselves and to their organization.
• Develop skills of initiation, implementation and analysis in a range of contexts.
• Develop capability in the analysis and evaluation of complex issues and situations.
THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAM WILL VARY ACCORDING TO THE CHOSEN NAMED AWARD AND WILL INCLUDE THE:
• Development of knowledge at an advanced level
• Development of skills of analysis, research and policy formulation and implementation
• Unification of theoretical analysis and practice through a variety of contexts appropriate to business administration issues of organization management and the management of people.
• Applicable Thesis Regulations
DISSERTATION THESIS
1) The range of themes for theses, their extent and particulars, as well as their requirements for theses are announced by the Universities based on the proposals examining committee for the thesis examination.
2) A doctoral thesis is a monothematic work which brings about new findings, it is not a compilation of literature, as a rule it presents personal original research pursued by the Applicant.
3) In general, the thesis is written in Spanish language. An Applicant of different nationality or a foreign applicant shall ask the admission commission for a possibility to write the thesis in a foreign language. In case of available language capacity the admission commission shall approve the request. A thesis written in a language other than English shall include a summary written in English language in extent of up to 10 pages.
According to available enrolments and tutoring capacities particularly the following study languages are approved: English, German, French, and Italian.
4) The use of Doctoral theses having already been used for the award of an academic degree is not allowed. The Applicant cannot submit as a rigorous thesis, his/her diploma thesis or any other qualification thesis, neither the work of a compilation character.
5) The Applicant submits to the examining committee the thesis. The thesis has to be written in text editor, printed and bound in hard cover. Upon request of the Applicant or order recommendation of the examination committee the submission of an electronic version is permitted.
6) To evaluate a thesis the examining committee nominates at least one staff member possessing the “assistant professor” or “professor” title or the academic title PhD, Dr. or an equivalent degree at doctoral level. The evaluator/s is appointed by the examining committee.
7) The evaluator first evaluates the methodological aspect of the thesis. In the event of the positive evaluation, the thesis shall be evaluated from a specialized, subject-specific perspective. Positive evaluations of the thesis are necessary preconditions for the invitation of the Applicant to the thesis defense and examination.
8) The nominated evaluator shall submit to the examining committee within 60 days from the delivery of the thesis to the evaluator the evaluation of the thesis in which s/he shall state if the thesis does or does not meet the requirements determined by the examining committee and this given study plan. In the evaluation the evaluator shall also present comments on the content of the thesis and, in conclusion of the evaluation, state if s/he does or does not recommend the thesis for the oral defense, or if s/he recommends to rewrite the thesis.
9) In the event that the evaluator does not recommend the thesis for the defense, the Applicant can rewrite the thesis and resubmit it for evaluation on the next deadline for theses submission as determined by the examining committee. If s/he fails to submit the thesis on the given deadline s/he shall be excluded from the registration of Applicants for examinations and thesis defenses. The Applicant can ask the examining committee in writing for the extension of the thesis submission deadline not more than twice.
10) Within the six months from the thesis submission before the thesis examination the examining committee shall notify the Applicant in writing of the place, date and time of the online-examination and at the same time notify him/her the result of the evaluation of the thesis.
11) Precondition of the invitation to the thesis defense and examination is the positive evaluator evaluation.
EXAMINING COMMITTEE
1) The examination and thesis defense take place in front of the examining committee.
2) The right to act as examiners is granted only to university teachers occupying the posts of professors or assistant professors or other experts possessing at least the academic title PhD or comparable qualification at doctoral level, approved by Alders gate.
3) The committee is appointed by the College; the nominees are selected from the eligible staff members as stated in Paragraph 2.
4) The committee consists of a chairman and a minimum of two other members.
5) As a general rule, the committee is appointed for a period until dismissal.
EXAMINATION AND DEFENCE OF THESIS
1) The examination can take place only when a chairman and a minimum of two other members are present online. The procedure of the examination is delivered by means of electronic tele-communications media (video-conference).
2) The examination is generally conducted in the language of the thesis.
3) The examination consists of two parts. It starts with the thesis presentation and defense and continues immediately by the oral examination by the examining committee. In defense of thesis the Applicant responds to the comments and answers the questions of the committee members.
4) The committee members vote upon the result of the examination in the nonpublic part of the session on the day of the doctoral examination. The examination result is expressed in words as “passed” or “failed”.
5) The examination procedure is recorded in writing. All documents including the notation and the evaluation are kept in the Archive in compliance with the valid regulations.
PROGRAMME FEATURES FOR PH.D AND DBA
PhD with Specialization Program:
• 105 UNITS for PhD Thesis.
• The word count for the Thesis should not exceed 80,000.
• Duration: Completion within Three to Five Years with Maximum Seven Years.
Modules (3)
• RSC 900 Doctoral Research Methods
• RSC 910 Literature Review
• RSC 915 Project/Dissertation Proposal
Doctor of Business Administration:
• 45 UNITS Advanced Standing, Units from Masters,
• 30 UNITS in DBA coursework component
• 30 UNITS for DBA Thesis.
• The word count for the Thesis should not exceed 70,000.
Duration: Completion within Two to four Years with Maximum Five years.
Examination and Defense of Thesis
ADMISSION PROFILE (AP) ITEMS ALL APPLICANTS MUST HAVE THE FOLLOWING.
Admission profile (AP) items all applicants must have the following.
• Application for Admissions
• Photo Headshot
• Academic Credentials (Official Transcripts and/or Foreign Credential Evaluations)
• Personal Statement
• Resume Application for Admissions
