DBA Brochure (1)

7/31/2019 DBA Brochure (1)

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YOUR VISION

COULD CHANGE

THE WAY WELOOK AT THEWORLD

The Aston Executive

Doctorate (DBA)



Contents

3 About Aston University

3 Why Aston Business School

3 Research ranking

3 Research and links with industry

3 Accreditation

4 Research at Aston Business School

4 Making Knowledge Work for Individuals and

Organisations

5 Your route to making knowledge work in your Executive

Doctorate

6 World-Class Supervision

7 Creating Your Learning Environment

8 Applying to the Programme

8 Fees

8 The Research Proposal

9 Your Alumni Network



Aston Business School aims to continually develop new

ideas for business success. We do this by learning with

business through sharing challenges, knowledge and insights

together. The Aston Executive Doctorate embodies those

principles perfectly.

Executive Doctorate researchers develop their intellectual,

business and research expertise to the highest levels by

working with world-leading academics in a challenging and

supportive research community. Our intent is that they

graduate as knowledge leaders in their areas with a powerful

practical knowledge and skill base that enables them tomake a difference to their organisations.

The Aston Executive Doctorate offers an opportunity for

leaders to work at the interface of advanced research and

business to ensure unique and powerful breakthroughs in

understanding how we can develop effective organisations.

It is an exciting and demanding journey of personal

transformation that at the same time enables business

success.

Professor Mike West

Executive Dean, Aston Business School



In this prospectus, we have captured the distinct and

stimulating experience that is the Aston Executive

Doctorate. We think we have provided answers to most of

the questions that you may have about the Programme,but we would be delighted to deal with any further queries.

We are confident that we can provide you with a unique

challenge here at Aston. At the end of your Executive

Doctorate you will be in a position to not only have

changed your own organisation but also to influence

globally the development of management theory and

practice.

Our goal is to make the Executive Doctorate a life-

changing experience!

Dr Graham Leask

The Aston Executive Doctorate

Programme Director

THE ASTON EXECUTIVE DOCTORATE (DBA)



About Aston University

Aston was founded in 1895 and has been a university

since 1966. At Aston, we have successfully blended our

traditional roots as an “old” university with a dynamic and

progressive approach to teaching and learning. We are

committed to providing high quality, innovative and relevant

degree programmes which meet the needs of the real

world.

Why Aston Business School

The decision to study for a Doctorate at Aston Business

School is the decision to participate in a world class

research community alongside leading academics.

Our underlying principle is to ensure that doctoral research

is of a very high standard, the experience of our students is

excellent, and that, through our programmes, we aresignificantly advancing understanding about economies,

markets, organisations and about the flourishing of those

who work within them and are served by them.

Research ranking

The 2008 Research A ssessment Exercise (RAE) confirmed

Aston Business School’s position as a leading research-

intensive business school; in a submission which included

96% of our academic staff, the majority of our research

activity was judged to be either ‘world leading’ or

‘internationally excellent’.

Research and links with industry

Aston Business School's close links with industry,

commerce and the public sector in the UK and abroad,

produces a real awareness of the relationship between

academic and practical approaches to management.

These links also ensure that the rapidly changing

requirements of modern management are immediately

integrated into our doctoral programmes.

Accreditation

Aston Business School is one of Europe’s leading business

schools and is one of an elite group of business schools in

the world to hold triple accreditation from AMBA, EQUIS

and AACSB. The Aston Executive Doctorate is one of only

six DBAs in the world to be individually accredited by

AMBA.

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The Aston Executive Doctorate is a distance learning

doctoral programme designed so that senior professionals

can advance their learning, whilst still working in their

existing roles. On exit, people gain a qualification equivalent

to a PhD and are entitled to call themselves ‘Doctor.’

The Aston Executive Doctorate goes beyond theory. To

succeed, participants must show that they can transform

practice with the knowledge they have created.

For individuals and organisations, the Aston Executive

Doctorate makes knowledge work.

The benefits offered to the individual:

> A unique research experience that will impact on their

career and their own development as an individual

> A widely respected qualification that clearly

demonstrates their intelligence and ability to innovate

> Networking opportunities through a global cadre of

highly experienced fellow Executive Doctorate

participants to exchange ideas and experiences.

The benefits offered to your organisation:

> Access to vital ‘cutting edge’ thinking that can be used

throughout your organisation

> The ability to significantly enhance innovative capacity> The opportunity to offer senior managers the chance

for further their career development.

Research at Aston Business School Making Knowledge Work for Individuals

and Organisations

Academic expertise

As an Executive Doctorate student you will be linked with

one of Aston Business School's six academic groups with

supervisors drawn from one or more of them. TheSchool’s academic groups cover the core disciplines of

management and commercial law and provide a rich

intellectual community of academic faculty, research

associates, industry partners and doctoral students.

The six academic groups are:

> Aston Law

> Economics and Strategy

> Finance and Accounting

> Marketing

> Operations and Information Management

> Work and Organisational Psychology

IT’S YOUR BUSINESSTO SEE THAT BUSINESS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

Research at Aston Business

School enjoys a reputation as

being of a world-class standard

and internationally relevant. This

is why our research is referenced

worldwide and our academics

are in high demand to work with

other academics, industry, policy

makers and governments on a

range of collaborative projects.

Central to our research is a determination to deliver impact,

so that not only do we share our expertise to support

business excellence, but what we do can be applied and

makes a difference to the world. Our focus is within thearea of business, but what we deliver has an impact on how

we work, how we live and how we understand and seek to

benefit our community, at local, national and global level.

Professor Pawan Budhwar

Associate Dean of Research

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Your Route to Making Knowledge Work in

Your Executive Doctorate

Milestones and Structure

Part-time: four years study (up to six years maximum)

Year 1 (up to year 2 maximum): Research Methods Course

and Qualifying Report

Years 2-4 (up to year 6 maximum): Individual research

project and submission of thesis/portfolio

The Research Methods Course

All doctoral students undertake the taught Research

Methods Course (RMC) as the foundation of their

development as a professional researcher and this is

undertaken in the first year of study (or the first two years in

some circumstances).

The RMC is intended to provide you with all the skills that

you require both to successfully complete your Executive

Doctorate and to develop you as a "researching

professional". The RMC is taught by expert staff in

management research and is designed to lead to the

development of a qualifying report, which is the conclusion

of the RMC.

The four modules are:

RMC I – Basic Skills within the Management Research

Process

RMC II- The Philosophy of Management Research

RMC III – Qualitative and Quantitative Research Design

and Analysis

RMC IV - Communication and Advanced Research Skills

Assessment

Each of the Research Methods Course modules is

assessed through assignments that require students to link

the concepts from that module to their own research

project.

RMC Delivery

RMC Modules I and IV are residential week long modules

taught together with full-time research students and on

campus attendance is compulsory. For Executive

Doctorate students RMC II and RMC III are delivered online

via Aston University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE),

Blackboard. Distance-learners are welcome to attend

some of the workshops on campus should the days and

times these are arranged be convenient to them.

Qualifying Report

The RMC is designed to lead to the development of a

Qualifying Report, a written document approximately 6,000

words in length which forms the basis for the final thesis. The Qualifying Report is examined by viva voce and has to

be successfully completed before the student proceeds

onto the next stage of the research project.

Final thesis/portfolio

The research project culminates in the submission of a final

thesis/portfolio approximately 80,000 words in length. The

thesis/portfolio must be successfully defended by viva voce

before the degree can be awarded.

Postgraduate Certificate in Business Research and

Consultancy

All Executive Doctorate students will begin their studies by

being registered for the Postgraduate Certificate in

Business Research and Consultancy. The syllabus for this

Postgraduate Certificate comprises of the RMC modules.

This means that should students leave the Executive

Doctorate programme before the award of a doctorate,

they can be awarded the Postgraduate Certificate if they

have successfully passed the RMC.

Entry dates

The Executive Doctorate has two intakes each year:

October and January.

Applications for the October intake should be submitted by

July at the latest. Applications for the January intake

should be submitted by October at the latest.

Angus Garrett

Senior Economist and Aston DBA Student

In choosing a DBA you look for quality in research, specifically the people and pedigree - Aston has both of these.From the early days of the AstonStudies through to today’s DBA programme, Aston University emphasises collaboration, exploring new ideas and doing things differently.

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The majority of Aston Business School’s faculty is

recognised as conducting research that is ranked as

internationally excellent or world-class. Any Executive

Doctorate applicant is guaranteed to have a supervisorwho has an excellent research track record directly related

to their research topic. This is a rare facility that can only be

undertaken by an institution with the research breadth of

Aston University.

When you are accepted onto the Executive Doctorate you

will be allocated a team of supervisors. As well as being

assigned a primary supervisor who will work closely with

you in guiding and supporting your research you will also

be assigned at least one secondary/associate supervisor

who will work with your main supervisor and yourself on

specialist issues of methodology or your field of interest.

The relationship with your supervisory team will be crucial

in successfully completing your doctorate and the

Executive Doctorate team goes to great lengths to help

match a candidate with the right supervisors for their

research. The role of the supervisor will cover all aspects of

your research degree ranging from guidance and support

in terms of relevant literature, appropriate methodologies

and techniques for data collection and analysis, to

critiquing your written work, to advice on appropriate

journals to target for publications. However, the role of the

supervisor is typically much more than this; often the

student-supervisor relationship will last longer than theduration of the doctorate, with many students and

supervisors working jointly on projects and research papers

in the future.

Prof. Helen Higson

Reviewer for the UK’s Quality

Assurance Agency. Fellow of the

Higher Education Academy.

Researches in higher education

learning and management, as well as

intercultural learning

Prof. John Edwards

1st class honours, MA and PhD from

University of Cambridge. Served on

the UK RAE panel in 2001 and 2008.Researches in knowledge based and

decision support systems.

Prof. Emmanuel Thanassoulis

BSc 1st class honours and PhD in

operational research. World-leading

expert on data envelopement analysis.

Researches in quantitative

performance measurement.

Prof. Duncan Shaw

Director of Aston’s Centre forResearch Into Safety and Security

(CRISIS). Researches in 60 companies

and governments on decision-making,

and safety and security issues.

Prof. Paula Jarzabkowski

Holder of a prestigious AIM Ghosal

Fellowship. Researches in strategy

formation.

Prof. Michael West

Fellow of BPAS, APS, RSA, IAAP, HEA,

BAM and CIPD. Published over 150

scientific and practitioner articles.

Researches in team and organizational

innovation.

These people are amongst many

who have all supervised DBAs.

World-Class Supervision

Prof. Nick LeeProfessor of Marketing and Organisational Research

Supervisors play a key role in thedevelopment of any doctoral student. A high-quality student-supervisor relationship is a key goal of the programme here at Aston, and such a relationship is a major pillar on which success in doctoral work

and your future career is based.

APPLY YOURSELFTO RESEARCHIN THE KNOWLEDGE ITWILL BE APPLIED

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The world’s research at your fingertips

Aston’s e-Library is the gateway to a world of electronic

resources, including e-journals, e-books and databases.

The e-library allows Executive Doctorate participants to

search databases and download articles and journalpapers to their own PC from wherever they have access to

the Internet. The e-Library blurs the distinction between

distance learners and Aston-based students and means

that Aston Executive Doctorate participants have access to

a world of best-practice and research wherever they may

be situated.

Aston Executive Doctorate Colloquium

A key activity is the Aston Executive Doctorate Colloquium

which takes place twice a year, usually in parallel to two of

the residential RMC modules. The Colloquium includes a

dinner with all Executive Doctorate students andsupervisors and a day of Executive Doctorate related

workshops, presentations and seminars.

Dedicated facilities for research students

Executive Doctorate students have access to dedicated

research degree facilities in the Doctoral Suite. Facilities

are professional, spacious and include a conference-style

lecture room, computer suite with 20 PCs, dedicated

shared DBA study room, and administrative offices for DBA

staff. In addition to its study and teaching facilities, the

Doctoral suite has a fully equipped kitchen, dining area,

and a quiet reading space. This area provides a spacewhere students can meet and relax.

There are full restaurant, coffee and bar facilities in the

Aston Business School Building with preferential overnight

rates in the conference centre available to students.

Creating Your Learning Environment

A tailored and dedicated distance learning delivery

One of the key features of the Aston Executive Doctorate is

its distance learning delivery mode. The Programme

exploits the latest version of the Blackboard™ Virtual

Learning Environment, which enables the taughtcomponents of the Executive Doctorate to be delivered by

vodcast linked to a range of Powerpoint material provided.

Virtual discussion boards are used to conduct online

tutorials sessions between students and programme

tutors.

Understanding and exemplary customer care through

our support team

We understand that undertaking the Executive Doctorate is

a large commitment, we also know that time for any senior

level manager is precious. This is why we offer a dedicated

member of staff to ensure your distance learning

experience is one of efficiency. As well as this, the

programme offers the support of a faculty who are able to

provide a wealth of industry-led experience.



Entry requirements

Candidates must have:

> An MBA or equivalent Masters degree in business and

management

> A minimum of 3 years business experience

> For those whose first language is not English: either

evidence that the masters degree was taught mainly or

entirely in English or an IELTS score of 7.0 minimum in all

sections or a TOEFL IBT score of at least 100 or PBT610 or an equivalent English language qualification

recognised by Aston University.

Additionally, applicants should demonstrate the appropriate

links to practice, to which their proposed research refers.

How to apply

A completed application form together with the following

supporting documents should be submitted to the DBA

Programme Office.

Required supporting documents:> A copy of your Research Proposal

> A full curriculum vitae or personal statement

> At least two references one of which should be from the

institution of your latest degree.

> Copies of your qualifications, including the transcript of

your most recent degree

> A copy of your IELTS/TOEFL score if applicable.

Both our printed and online application forms are available

on our website: www.aston.ac.uk/dba

In order to be successful, the candidate will need to develop

an excellent research proposal.

Further information on how to write a good proposal can be

found on the Executive Doctorate website:

www.aston.ac.uk/dba

Tuition fees are paid on an annual basis. Fees for the year

2011/12 are:

For up-to-date fees information please refer to the website:

www.aston.ac.uk/dba-fees

Part Time Home Overseas

Year 1 £8000.00 £11,580.00

Year 2 £8000.00 £11,580.00

Year 3 £8000.00 £11,580.00

Year 4 £500.00* £500.00*

* Annual fee for duration of programme

Applying to the Programme

The Research Proposal

THE ASTON EXECUTIVE DOCTORATE (DBA)

8

The Application and research proposal

received and approved by the Aston

Executive DBA Team

Candidates are put in contact with a

potential supervisor

Potential Supervisors and candidates work

together on the research proposal

A formal interview with the potential

supervisor and Programme Director

Offer of a place on the Aston Executive

DBA Programme

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Fees

The Application Process



As an Executive Doctorate graduate, you will automatically

become a member of the Aston Business School

Postgraduate Alumni Network, an association of over 7,000

PhD, Executive Doctorate, MBA, and MSc graduates from

over 100 different countries.

The aim of the network is to connect you, help you build

relationships, share news and information and keep you intouch with developments here at Aston.

You will see the benefit of the alumni programme right from

the start of your time at Aston. Alumni give back to Aston

Business School by helping with contacts and industry

information, setting up some of our collaborative research

projects, giving advice, and advertising their vacancies.

Executive Doctorate students have plenty of opportunities to

connect with alumni, both face to face at our on-campus

events and online via our social-networking groups. Our

events are aimed at supporting your professional

development, providing you with regular networking

opportunities. They give you the chance to learn new skills

and theories, or simply listen to an expert speaker.

After you leave, you’ll be able to tap into a range of benefits

and services provided by a specialist team dedicated to

postgraduate alumni.

For further information please visit our website:

www.aston.ac.uk/abs/alumni

Your Alumni Network

Christopher Owen

PWC Consultant and Aston DBA Student

In consultancy in particular you have to

help clients with particularly tough andcomplex issues, some of which have not been tackled before. Therefore, you need to have the right tools andtechniques to be able to analyse these issues and these skills can only really come from this sort of course.



Further Information

Aston Executive Doctorate (DBA)

Programme Administrator

SW 11th Floor

Aston Business School

Aston University

Aston Triangle

Birmingham B4 7ET

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)121 204 3354Fax: +44 (0)121 204 3326

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.aston.ac.uk/dba

Documents

DBA Brochure (1)