PhD or Executive Doctorate?
The School offers a PhD programme on both a full-time and part-time basis and an Executive Doctorate (DBA) on a part-time basis only. Which one is appropriate for you will depend on your personal and career aspirations.
As a postgraduate, ‘post-experience’ School, all of our students come to us with several years’ management experience. The average age is higher than might be the case on doctoral programmes in other business schools. Our PhD students are mostly in their mid-thirties, and our Executive Doctorate students in their early forties.
There are essential differences in the programmes’ structure and mode of delivery:
- The PhD, both full-time and part-time, comprises a compulsory taught element over the first year of study followed by several years of supervisor-supported research.
- The Executive Doctorate is delivered in a part-time executive education format so students from around the world can accommodate intensive doctoral study whilst maintaining their careers.
But the real distinction lies in the content and purpose of the degrees as you will see from the typical profiles of candidates.
We realise that this is not always an easy decision so please contact us if you’d like further help and advice.
“It seems to me that the School offers two types of doctoral degrees – one for professional researchers (PhD), the other for researching professionals. My company is a useful example. Our former Chairman holds a PhD and is a full-time academic at Harvard Business School. Our company president and full-time management consultant has a DBA. That is the real distinction we need to draw – it is between the content and purpose of the degrees and not the course format.”
Edward ‘Ed’ Barrows, Jr
2005-2009 Executive Doctorate student.
Vice-President, Balanced Scorecard Collaborative/Palladium Group, Lecturer, Babson College.