Anyone have any insights on Professional Doctorate in Business Adminstration?

Note: some of the Australian DBAs are not possible as international students. If you go resident, then Phds are funded by state, but DBAs (I have checked) not. Estimate about 10kAUD per semester while enrolled for Professional Doctorate flavour of DBA. So 80kAUD vs about 60kAUD for an MBA from QUT or UQ.

DBA Long duration, self-driven, no cohort, no framework, limited support compared with MBA. I'm not convinced the RoI justified the additional 2+ years for a commercial career.That said, I am not convinced an MBA is either as a game-changer when you are already MSc late career.

What is Doctorate-holder pay ? Is it greater than (Master-Holder pay plus four year career development increments plus four years salary plus four years Doctorate fees) ?

TBD

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2

OP

Original post by TBD

Note: some of the Australian DBAs are not possible as international students. If you go resident, then Phds are funded by state, but DBAs (I have checked) not. Estimate about 10kAUD per semester while enrolled for Professional Doctorate flavour of DBA. So 80kAUD vs about 60kAUD for an MBA from QUT or UQ.

DBA Long duration, self-driven, no cohort, no framework, limited support compared with MBA. I'm not convinced the RoI justified the additional 2+ years for a commercial career.That said, I am not convinced an MBA is either as a game-changer when you are already MSc late career.

What is Doctorate-holder pay ? Is it greater than (Master-Holder pay plus four year career development increments plus four years salary plus four years Doctorate fees) ?

TBD

I plan to change from management to academic career for better work life balance.....

Anyone here who is actually a DBA that can advise me and provide some insight?

Reply 3

You are looking for an academic career and you are listening to the reasoning of consultants with MBAs and intend doing a Distance Learning Professional Doctorate requiring project development and research, based in a sponsor company that will expect you to work for your salary?

Your motives seems contradictory:

"Master holder take Master holder pay... Doctorate holder take Doctorate holder pay" which sounds very money driven, to
"I plan to change from management to academic career for better work life balance....." which indicates you are after a quiet life in academia.

I suggest your improved work-life balance will be some way off if you follow this route. I have been in a similar dilemma regarding MBA/DBA in Australia while already possessing another Masters qual, and solved the problem by doing neither.

I wouldn't limit your requests for insight from those that _have_ done a DBA, as you may miss plenty of reasons not to do one.

TBD

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 4

Something else to ask: the Professional Doctorate have a taught element (usually about 30%). These are primarily research methods, but they also include studies in the domain, in the case of a DBA they will probably be drawn from the university's MBA programme. So... is the an early exit point or possibility of interim award of MBA? These might make it possible to defer the decision.

TBD

Reply 5

OP

You are looking for an academic career and you are listening to the reasoning of consultants with MBAs and intend doing a Distance Learning Professional Doctorate requiring project development and research, based in a sponsor company that will expect you to work for your salary?

Your motives seems contradictory:

"Master holder take Master holder pay... Doctorate holder take Doctorate holder pay" which sounds very money driven, to
"I plan to change from management to academic career for better work life balance....." which indicates you are after a quiet life in academia.

If you wanna teach in local uni/polytechnic (in Singapore), Masters will get paid master grad pay while Doctorate will get paid by Doctorate grad pay scale. Why should we short sell ourself and limit the possibilities? It really doesn't make any sense to go for MBA when you can do your doctorate.Life balance to me, by being able to feed myself and my family when I'm old. Singapore is not like a welfare country like Australia or America or Germany. You dont work, You DON'T EAT. I know I will fighting for survival when I grow old. We Singaporean are being replace by younger, more energetic and more CHEAPER "foreign talent" and the older generation are forced to wash toilets, clean tablets, collect cupboard boxes, aluminum cans or be a taxi drivers to make ends meet if not prepared. Older people in Singapore are not appreciated if you an average joe. I know I will have problem maintaining my job by the age of 50. Call me paranoid but I have seen this happen occasionally and there is NO retirement benefits. I cant migrate because Singapore is my home, for bad or worse, it's my home

I suggest your improved work-life balance will be some way off if you follow this route. I have been in a similar dilemma regarding MBA/DBA in Australia while already possessing another Masters qual, and solved the problem by doing neither.

Yeah I agree, I might NOT do it after all but I need to know and analyze myself. Btw I actually prefer doing the DBA from Liverpool Uni plus Australian DBA distance learning program is way over priced - anyway that is only my opinion.

Situation in Singapore actually forces indirectly everyone (average Singaporeans) to work beyond the age 67 and I don't think I can handle management or technical roles above 55. It's very difficult to retire in Singapore, I have accepted my fate and plan now rather suffer later.... My backup plan is to teach or consulting and a DBA will be a nice advantage. I see this as a business investment..... I'm investing in myself. :biggrin:

I wouldn't limit your requests for insight from those that _have_ done a DBA, as you may miss plenty of reasons not to do one.

Yeah.. I need some insight from some DBA grads here and how did it go for them? Any advantage or disadvantage of having a DBA? Too many Myth to be Demystified. I cant decide on speculation alone as this involve quite a sum of money (retirement funds) from my own pocket. Btw an MBA from Imperial will cost almost the same as DBA from Liverpool.. so why not? Is that bad to have a DBA rather then an MBA

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6

OP

Anyone here who is a DBA that can give an insight?

Reply 7

OP

Anyone here who is a DBA that can give an insight?

Reply 8

Cherrymuckle

Hi gld998, just been running through your list. The Manchester Business School DBA is the programme I'm most familiar with and so can give some insights into what to expect from an interview I conducted with the school's director of DBA programme. Prof. Kang emphasised that getting all the support you can is necessary- from your employers and from family members. You can expect to put in about 10-12 hours of study each week so you need to be sure you have this amount of time to spare. The programme is largely online so there isn't a great deal of travel required expect coming to Manchester for one week, three times a year, for the first two years and after that are only required to come in once a year. Lastly, the programme is by invitation only. Applicants start by sending a 3000 word research paper along with their resume. This is meant to act as a test for both applicants and the school to see if they can really commit to this and to test their motivations.

Reply 9