Doctor of Business Administration
CLASSES
MO: 10AM - 11AMWE: 10AM - 12AMFR: 8AM - 9AM
DBA Overview
The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA®) at GUST is a unique, practice-oriented, professional doctoral program intended for executives and senior managers who want to expand their knowledge, skills, competencies and innovative thinking to meet the specific needs of industry. Graduates possess the knowledge and experience to assume advanced positions in the industry companies.
In the DBA program, students will pursue engineering business study and industrial research of a high order while carrying out their professions; the originality and value of their research are assessed within the specific professional and industrial context. As professional activity is usually multi-disciplinary and business/management-driven, the program will include a wide variety of coursework in Engineering/ Business Administration.
The DBA is an advanced professional doctorate degree, equal academic standard to a PhD. The successful completion of the program will lead to the award of "Doctorate Degree". Graduates can use the abbreviation "Dr." before their names.
Features
| 1-2 Years |
| 45 hrs. |
| Professional Education |
| Business |
| 6 |
| Online/On-Campus |
| English |
| 15 |
| 18 |
| Optional |
| Master Degree |
| Graduate |
| Bachelor Degree |
DBA Program Objectives
The general aim of the DBA program is to develop engineers who should have the necessary background knowledge, skills and experience to understand the interaction between the environment, technology and the market place and to apply this understanding to development, promotion and execution of corporate strategy.
The specific aims of the program are:
•To develop graduates who are capable of demonstrating innovation in the application of knowledge to the engineering fields in which they are employed,
•To provide an integrated curriculum of theory, practice and research aiming at developing professionals’ innovative thinking and capabilities in the application of knowledge to solve strategic important problems in the industry,
•To encourage links between research and the workplace.
DBA Program Outcomes
On successfully completing the program the student will be able to:
- Carry out original and practical research and development contributions to the fields in which they are employed,
- Practice as a professional meeting the demands of the rapidly changing technology based businesses;
- Produce meliorate influence to the rapidly changing technology based business;
- Apply the advanced knowledge and capabilities form the perspective of a leader to his/her chosen fields of practice;
- Demonstrate their specialization and qualifications to meet demands of the engineering profession in both technical and managerial aspects;
- Relate and apply the academic research to actual industrial practices
The GUST follows the philosophy of Outcome Based Education. Therefore, the teaching-learning process is student centric. The pedagogy is practical, hands on and real time. Case studies, Problem Solving Exercises, Role- Plays, Management Games and Presentations are extensively used. The curriculum is planned to facilitate learning in theory and practice of all aspects of the discipline of management ensuring the achievement of predefined learning outcomes.
The DBA program structure comprises of 4 semesters. The curriculum of the first two semesters provides the foundation in basic management courses. The curriculum of third and fourth semester focuses on imparting in-depth training in conceptual and practical aspects of functional and sectorial specialization and integrating courses. The program is implemented with a very flexible choice-based credit system.
The curriculum offers dual Functional Specialization along with Sectorial Specialization. Functional Specialization courses (Professional Electives) are offered in the following broad areas:
- Accounting & Finance
- HR Management
- Marketing
- Informational Technology
- Operations & Strategies
- Supply Chain Management.
- Project Management
The Sectorial Specialization courses equip the students with specialized competencies for a chosen sector of industry. Sectorial specialization is offered in the following areas:
Accounting: Enhance your knowledge of managerial accounting methods that are essential to your company’s bottom line and elevating your organization’s competitive position. Explore the principles and theories of managerial decision making, corporate governance, and employee performance evaluation from domestic and global business perspectives.
Energy Management: Assist business leaders analyze the impact of energy production, distribution, and associated risks. Explore how energy production and distribution have evolved into a global market, as well as the natural and man-made risks involved with this business. Use seminar research and discussions to examine the intersection of global energy demands with emerging technologies. Develop the skills necessary to help guide the future of energy production and distribution in light of the associated risks.
Entrepreneurship: Explore the entrepreneurial concepts and processes that are found in both established companies and start-ups. Build your entrepreneurial skills and knowledge by identifying market opportunities, managing risk and change, encouraging innovation, raising capital, and more.
Finance: Gain the finance tools that help managers maximize their firm’s value, including valuation, capital budgeting and structure, working capital management, multinational concepts, and Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). You will also have the opportunity to explore advanced theories such as option pricing, derivatives, and hedging.
Global Supply Chain Management: Understand how products and services move from the concept phase to the deliverable phase while learning the systems required to identify sources of personnel and material and how to ensure that supply chains conform to the highest global standards. In addition, you will explore new ways of applying technology to help cut costs, increase customer satisfaction, and find new business opportunities.
Healthcare Management: Expand your core business management skills in the healthcare field by learning to apply managerial decision-making skills to healthcare policy and economics. Explore the private and public policy development process and understand its effect on delivery systems and the continuum of health services.
Homeland Security: This specialization is designed for leaders in the private and public sectors interested in analyzing homeland security and crisis planning from a business perspective. Explore how the field of homeland security has evolved, as well as the global implications it has on how an organization operates, internally and externally. From the principles of global terrorism to risk-based analysis strategies and emerging organizational and policy challenges, gain the insight and knowledge you need to confidently address organizational security issues, mitigate risk, and protect business infrastructure through critical thinking and applied research.
HR Management: Be prepared with the theoretical knowledge, industry insights, and capabilities necessary to be an authoritative voice in this field, whether you’re looking to pursue executive leadership, teaching, or research. Coursework examines contemporary organizational issues, such as succession planning for the organization’s long-term success, creating and managing external strategic partnerships, and HR planning for the organization’s strategic business direction.
Information Systems Management: Address the management challenges facing technology-based businesses as you gain the knowledge and skills to help align business needs with technological solutions, identify new applications for technology, and leverage technological solutions in order to enhance your organization’s competitive position in the marketplace. Examine how technological solutions can be affected in a global environment.
International Business: Gain the skills necessary to manage and lead a spectrum of workers, managers, and teams in a global marketplace. You will also examine the financial implications of conducting business internationally, including how capital investment is undertaken globally and how financial markets and global trade influence investment opportunities. Gain an overview of the effect the world’s financial institutions—such as The World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization (WTO)—have on trade, new markets, and exchange and interest rates.
Leadership: Explore new frameworks and perspectives that will help you to lead and manage change effectively while also investigating a variety of current leadership principles and practices to determine which work best in any given situation.
Marketing: Study key marketing concepts, including market segmentation, marketing channels, competitive intelligence, integrated marketing, product development and commercialization, and consumer behavior. Learn the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in an international marketplace, including leveraging strategies in global marketing and international pricing.
Project Management: This specialization focuses on the components of project-based strategic leadership and the organizational practices required to responsibly and ethically support an organization’s vision and growth. You will learn the necessary skills to deliver your organization’s strategic objectives through dynamic project portfolio management while studying the processes for successfully managing a complex portfolio of projects and analyzing opportunities for improved portfolio performance.
Social Impact Management: The ability to manage and improve an organization’s social impact is in high demand. Examine key issues in corporate responsibility, such as how to achieve greater transparency while protecting proprietary information, leverage social involvement in branding, improve operational efficiency through environmental initiatives, and strengthen stakeholder relationships.
Technology Entrepreneurship: Learn how to design the concepts, processes, and tools to increase the rate and extent of innovation in your company, thereby enhancing your company’s competitive edge. Discover new ways of applying technology to cut costs, increase customer satisfaction, and create new business opportunities.
Self-Designed: Create your own specialization based on your individual goals and interests in business administration. Choose seminars from the program’s other specializations under the guidance of a Walden faculty mentor.
Each student undertakes two projects during the tenure of the program under the guidance of the faculty members. The project facilitates learning through practical application of the concepts. One foreign language is included as a core subject in the curriculum to fulfill the objectives of developing global competencies in students.
First Semester: (12 Credit Hours)
- Contemporary Management.
- This is a generic course, which demonstrates the basic concepts and essential skills for any successful manager such as supervision, delegation, negotiation, team building, leadership, and effective communication skills. It also gives an introduction to the conceptual framework of organization behavior which focuses on the individuals within organizations as the relevant unit of analysis in addition to studying the nature and relationship among groups and departments that make up those organizations.
- Financial Accounting and Reporting.
- This course provides the students with a comprehensive introduction to the basic concepts, procedures and techniques of financial accounting and reporting. Students will also be introduced to the basic concepts of using and interpreting accounting information within the decision making process. Among the financial topics that will be covered during this course are: Basic Financial Statements, the Accounting Cycle, Management of Assets and Liabilities, Depreciation and Ratio Analysis.
- Business Economics.
- An introductory course covering the basic concepts and tools of Micro & Macro economics in a case study oriented formats. The course exposes the students to topics such as the economic problems, mechanisms of a free market, elasticity’s, production and costs, market structure, overview of macroeconomics, role of fiscal & monetary policies in addition to covering the role of international trade.
- Applied Statistics.
- The course covers the following topics: Linear equations & straight line. Elasticity, Demand and supply curves Derivatives, Maximum and minimum points and Equilibrium price. Demand curve, variable costs & variable price, Differential equation and investment growth. The course covers also the Mathematical model for relation between investments and rate of interest. Introduction to probability, expected values, random variables, Binomial, Poisson and Normal Distribution, Test of hypotheses, (T test and Chi-Test), Correlation and Regression, Time Series Analysis, Game Theory.
Second Semester: (12 Credit Hours)
- Human Resources Management.
- This course presents and demonstrates the analytical skills required to perform all the subsequent functions of the human resources profession such as job analysis and design, how to determine the demand and supply factors affecting the labor force in addition to the development of on-job training schemes, hierarchical structures, incentives mechanisms, job appraisal techniques and career planning development.
- Marketing Management.
- This course covers the fundamental principles and practices in marketing process and the effect of the marketing environment on different marketing activities. The course presents principles, methods and problems confronting the marketing manager. It also discusses the present-day problems and policies connected with the product, distribution, sales, pricing, promotion and consumer behavior in the context of an integrated marketing strategy with the objective of developing an ideal marketing mix.
- Managerial Finance.
- An introductory course in Financial Management which addresses topics such as term structure of interest rates, rates of return, bonds & stocks and cost of capital etc. During the course, emphasis will be placed on Financial analysis, planning & Control. Furthermore, capital budgeting techniques will be introduced. The course shows how major financial policies are closely tied to issues concerning the organization and governance of firms operations in addition to covering replacements of equity by debt through leveraged buyouts and other forms of debt financed transactions. It also addresses injection, of substantial new equity, either by restructuring of ownership via a sell-off or initial public offerings as another financial restructuring strategy.
- Operations Management.
- The main goal of the course is to acknowledge students with the basic concepts of the physical resources (mainly machine & material) which can be named generally as Operations management and to show them how to manage them efficiently with the financial resources required. Effective managers must make good choices for their business hence they must realize that the most important part of business management is their awareness of the operations basic concepts. Concepts come from understanding, understanding begins with learning and learning comes from examining credible resources with an open mind. The focus will be on how to improve and increase productivity of operations using different models and techniques that also insure not only quality but long term reliability as well.
Third and Fourth Semesters: (24 Credit Hours)
- Every student should choose eight courses to study during the third and fourth semesters. Students should make sure that they choose at least 6 courses from any of the following specialization tracks. The other 2 courses could be chosen from any other major after consultation with the academic advisory. It is of importance to highlight the first course in each track as well as the Strategic Management course as mandatory courses in all tracks.
Admission Requirements
- Proving language proficiency when obtaining a minimum score of 500 in TOEFL or 5.5 in ILETS.
- Satisfactory performance in the DBA Admission Test which assesses applicants’ quantitative and qualitative skills by scoring at least 400 on the total Admission test scale.
- Appropriate performance during the interview with the DBA Admission Council.
Admission Documents
- Original Master Certificate
- Original Master Transcript.
- Scanned Copy of Passport or National ID.
- Resume (C.V)
DBA Dissertation
Candidates will be required to produce a dissertation that will demonstrate their ability to make a tangible contribution to learning and to professional practice, and to appreciate and understand the relationship of their own investigations to a wider field of knowledge.
The dissertation could be:
a. A specific company-based project; or
b. An industry-based project.
It can also take the form of a collection of small projects from either a single company or a few companies, integrated in a cohesive nature to solve problems with greater impact to the company(ies) or the whole industrial sector. The candidate should aim to improve specific areas of professional practice and demonstrate how his/her findings would lead to improvements in industry.
Possible Research Areas for the Dissertation
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)Theory and Applications; Change Management; Conflict Management; Customer Oriented Operations and Quality Management; Development and Implementation of Concurrent Engineering and Time Based Strategies; Engineering Business; Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP); Environmental Management and ISO14000; Ergonomics and Human Factors; Human Resources: Experiential and Activity-based Learning; Financial Modeling and Asset Pricing; Global Manufacturing Systems-Design and Management; Implementation of ISO9000, TQM, and JIT; Information and Knowledge Management; Intelligent Decision Making and Forecasting Systems; Intelligent Maintenance and Management; International Benchmarking Studies of Manufacturing Practices; Internet and Intranet Based Management Systems; Lean Manufacturing and Value Stream Management; Learning Organization and Organizational Learning; Logistics and Transportation; Manufacturing Strategy; Modeling of Manufacturing Systems; Occupational Health and Safety Management; Organizational Development (OD), Process and Quality Control; Process Performance Analysis and Improvement; Product Development Strategies and Management; Production Planning and Inventory Control; Project Management; Smart Asset Management; Supply Chain and Logistics Management; Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship Management; Web-based Collaborative Product Development; Work Design in Hybrid Systems.
Dissertation Committee
When students pass their comprehensive examination, they are assigned a Dissertation Committee. Similar to the Advisory Committee, this committee will comprise at least three faculty members with appropriate terminal degrees. Students may request substitutions or additions to this committee, which must be approved by the Academy President. Students work closely with their dissertation committee members through the remainder of their doctoral program.
Each student must nominate one member of the dissertation committee who resides in a location convenient for regular interaction in person. This individual must meet the requirements for becoming adjunct faculty at IEBA and must possess a terminal degree in a relevant discipline from an appropriately accredited institution. Selection of a nominee is solely at the discretion of the IEBA board of governors. IEBA will provide compensation to the local faculty member directly: the student will not bear any additional financial burden for his/her services.
Dissertation Proposal
The critical work product of the Possible Research Areas in Research component is a formal written proposal for dissertation research. This proposal must include a clear statement of the problem to be researched and a survey of the relevant literature. The proposal must specify the research methods, data collection, and data analysis techniques in detail. The methods to be employed must be appropriate, reliable, and appropriate for the measures taken.
Proposal Defense
The proposal for the dissertation research must be approved by the student’s Dissertation Committee before the student may commence work on the dissertation. The defense is an oral (shall not exceed 2 hours) examination. This defense is limited to six (6) credit-hours. The student may be directed to rework portions of the proposal and repeat this examination. When approved by the committee, the student is promoted to the status of doctoral candidate and may proceed.
Dissertation Research
Students begin the final phase of their studies immediately after the successful oral defense of the proposal. Working closely with their committee, students conduct their research project and develop their dissertation, achieving the highest levels of scholarship. The dissertation must include original research that is focused either on expanding the methodological scope of the content area, developing new theories, or confirming theoretic models. Research methods that may be employed include field experiments, surveys, and case studies.
The dissertation is the final scholarly product of the program. This document must complete the proposed research study, presenting detailed results and analyses. The dissertation must present a careful synthesis and evaluation of the work done and the findings obtained. All claims must be warranted and limitations admitted. Suggestions for future research in the field that build on the instant research are required to demonstrate the fruitfulness of this research. The minimum requirement is thirty (30) credit-hours.
Dissertation Defense
An oral examination of the doctoral candidate will be conducted by the dissertation committee. This defense is limited to nine (9) credit- hours. The final document must be delivered to the committee at least 30 days prior to the scheduled defense. It is expected to be ready for publication in camera-ready or desktop publishing format. The candidate may be directed to rework portions of the dissertation and repeat this examination until it is approved by a majority of the dissertation committee.
Publication
After the dissertation is approved by the Dissertation Committee, the student must arrange two bound copies to be provided to the IEBA library. IEBA will work closely with students to gain publication of the main work in a scholarly or other journal or publication of a book, as appropriate. Students also may arrange publication at cost by IEBA Press.
Assessment of Learning
Students in the doctoral program must demonstrate their ability to conduct appropriate research in the field and to interpret and apply the results of this research. Students must demonstrate their ability to evaluate, synthesize, and incorporate emerging relevant technologies and trends in theory and practice. Students must demonstrate the skills necessary to advance the body of knowledge and practice in the field.
Course-level assessments of learning are conducted by instructors following IEBA standard guidelines. IEBA expects all level courses to include final examination as a measure of learning of facts, terminology, and so forth. Assessments also are to include at least one, substantial written assessment. Written assessments are to present the original research of the student and to be prepared with professional care and attention to details, methods, and findings. Students must demonstrate higher cognitive abilities including, but not limited to, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. For courses with quantitative skill requirements, exercise sets are required, however, these may be integrated with objective assessments. Additional short written assignments may be used.
Additional assessments include the qualifying and comprehensive examinations, which must be passed to continue in the program and to advance to the dissertation research phase of the degree program, respectively. The final assessments are the oral defense of the written proposal and the final dissertation. The majority of the advisory/dissertation committee must approve the proposal and the dissertation for the student to be awarded the degree.
What’s the Career Impact of Earning a DBA?
Now more than ever, organizations need leaders with practical experience who can assess situations, understand current and potential business issues, and put solutions into action with confidence.
In many cases, businesses look to people who can navigate challenges and inspire change. Often, they turn to professionals with DBA degrees.
A DBA not only identifies you as an expert in your field, but also demonstrates your readiness for senior-level leadership and new career opportunities—within your own organization or across other companies and industries.
What Can I Do With a DBA?
Depending on your specialization, an online Doctor of Business Administration from Walden can pave the way to a number of career options, including:
- Consultant
- Entrepreneur/business owner
- Faculty member
- Manager/director/administrator
- Analyst
Career options may require additional experience, training, or other factors beyond the successful completion of this degree program.
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