Professional Doctorate in Business Administration (Research)

Build upon your professional experience with a research degree

If you are a business professional looking to extend your expertise and progress your career to the next level, then the Professional Doctorate in Business Administration (Research) will help you embrace your past professional and workplace experience to develop a host of relevant research skills. This carefully designed program provides opportunities for advanced study and reflection on practice across a range of professional fields including accountancy, business management, economics, human resource development, international management, organisational behaviour, and more.

You will explore a research subject of your choosing in the form of a dissertation and can tailor the course content to suit your professional interests through your choice of suitable electives. As a Higher Degree by Research (HDR), this course is covered under the Australian Government's Research Training Program (RTP) funding model, which provides a fee offset for domestic students for the standard duration of the course.

Study a Professional Doctorate in Business Administration (Research) at UC and you will:

• evaluate and apply specialised knowledge and research skills in planning, demonstrating and justifying a research project in the context of professional practice in a business field
• demonstrate trans-disciplinary higher order research, analytical and problem-solving skills
• apply existing professional and other expert skills to great effect in business, business workplaces and the society of the Knowledge Economy
• illustrate specialised research skills, knowledge and expertise applicable to professional practice or the production and application of knowledge in business
• demonstrate a systemic and critical understanding of a substantial and complex body of knowledge at the frontier of an area of professional practice in a field of business.

Work Integrated Learning

A professional doctorate is, by its very nature, the embodiment of Work Integrated Learning (WIL), and is much more focused on professional practice than a traditional PhD. Throughout your coursework, and specifically in your dissertation, you will be encouraged to apply your existing professional knowledge and undertake new research to identify and explore a real-world problem in the field of business administration.

Career opportunities

• Academic
• Lecturer
• Sessional academic
• Senior research officer
• Senior research fellow
• Company director
• General manager
• Chief executive officer
• President
• Vice president
• Chief financial officer
• Board member
• Marketing director
• Business start-up adviser
• Entrepreneur
• Business consultant
• Public servant
• Senior policy officer
• Indigenous program director
• Human resources director
• Industrial relations director
• International diplomat

Course-specific information

Before a candidate is admitted to the Professional Doctorate in Business Administration (Research) program, the Faculty must be satisfied that it is able to supervise the candidate's proposed dissertation, and that the candidate satisfies the following admission requirements:

1. holds at minimum a bachelor's degree and a post-bachelor honours year by research, or a master's or graduate diploma degree of one to two years' full-time equivalent duration in a relevant field with a Credit or greater average, and evidence of having performed in some subjects relevant to the proposed study at Distinction level or above
2. has five years of professional practice in a relevant area
3. provides evidence of capacity for independent research under the guidance of a supervisory panel at the doctoral level and relevant professional development
4. provides evidence of superior professional performance, both intellectually and technically.

There are non-standard English language requirements for this course. To be eligible you must have an academic IELTS or equivalent of 6.5 with no band score below 6.0. Students who have undertaken all their education in an English-speaking country (as defined on the UC website) are deemed to have met our English language proficiency requirements.

Domestic students who are accepted on this course are provided for under the Australian Government's Research Training Program (RTP) funding model, which provides a fee offset for the standard duration of the course. Once your RTP entitlement is consumed, you will be charged the annual fee rate that applied at the start of your degree. Further information on fees for Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students can be found here.