Online DBA/PhD Program

[Bob Sham]

Hi All, I would like to seek advice from members in this forum.  I understand that my questions may have been asked before. In view of this, I would like to apologise in advance.  I am currently holding a n MSc. in SHE and would like to pursue a Doctorate degree in Business Administration for future lecturing and career advancement.  I have been searching for an online program which is accredited by AACSB due to the flexibility. However, I have a very tight budget as my paycheck is not high. I saw on one of the post on degree from South Africa and wonder if it is an alternative.  On the other hand, my current qualification is in Safety and Health and not relevant to Business Administrative programs. What are my chances to be enrolled in the program? I am currently residing in asian country so currency exchange has an impact on me. I hope that members here can give insights on my plan.  Thank you all.

[Merlin]

Hi All, I would like to seek advice from members in this forum.  I understand that my questions may have been asked before. In view of this, I would like to apologise in advance.  I am currently holding a n MSc. in SHE and would like to pursue a Doctorate degree in Business Administration for future lecturing and career advancement.  I have been searching for an online program which is accredited by AACSB due to the flexibility. However, I have a very tight budget as my paycheck is not high. I saw on one of the post on degree from South Africa and wonder if it is an alternative.  On the other hand, my current qualification is in Safety and Health and not relevant to Business Administrative programs. What are my chances to be enrolled in the program? I am currently residing in asian country so currency exchange has an impact on me. I hope that members here can give insights on my plan.  Thank you all.

FYI, if you're looking to lecture (teach) you should be focusing on RA Ph.D. programs and not DBA programs. A DBA is a terminal professional degree, not really an academic degree. You may still be able to teach with a DBA, but it will be much harder to find a gig... or you may be limited to private colleges or 2-year schools. AACSB programmatic accreditation is great to have on top of a Business Ph.D. if you want to teach at a top grad school. AACSB on top of a DBA is also great to have if you're looking to work for a Big 4 accounting firm or something, but it isn't required otherwise.

If you want to teach in the US, you should be fine if you're looking at foreign AACSB universities, but if not, you should be careful when looking at foreign colleges.

Lastly, if you want any kind of AACSB accredited degree, you're probably not going to find one on a limited budget. AACSB schools tend to charge a lot more because of that accreditation. Plus, schools that get that accreditation are really hard to find online to begin with (Covid may change this).

Also keep in mind that if you're doing any kind of online doctoral program you'll be paying out of pocket unless your company will pay for it, you can land a scholarship, or you take out a loan or something. If you're able to relocate to attend in person and can dedicate to a full-time Ph.D. in Business or something, that is the most cost-effective approach. If selected, and the program is fully funded, you generally won't have to pay for tuition at all since tuition will usually be covered by a grant or waived in combination with a research or teaching assistantship. Plus those programs will usually pay a stipend on top of all that to cover stuff like rent and food.

[Bob Sham]

Hi Merlin, thank you for your kind advice. As mentioned,  I am unsure on searching for DBA or PhD and you have given valuable advice on this. As such I will be searching for a PhD program in BA. I will be paying the tuition fee on my own without scholarship.  Recently,  I was offered a seat at UNICAF University but I am not pursuing further because it is not accredited. I am in Singapore and I am not considering to go overseas to be in the program due to family and work commitments.  That is why I asked about the University of Stellenbosch Business School program (South Africa) which is accredited by AACSB which seems affordable. The PhD program is by research with minimum 2 years.  Nevertheless,  I am not sure with my qualification I can be registered into the program and secondly will the PhD be recognised here in Singapore.  I will have to confirm with the Ministry of Education on this.  I have written to the university for their review and hope they reply favourably on my enquiry.  I hope fellow members here can recommend other institutions that is within the range.

[SteveFoerster]

FYI, if you're looking to lecture (teach) you should be focusing on RA Ph.D. programs and not DBA programs. A DBA is a terminal professional degree, not really an academic degree. You may still be able to teach with a DBA, but it will be much harder to find a gig... or you may be limited to private colleges or 2-year schools.

I disagree. I've seen plenty of business faculty with DBA degrees. Factors like which school one attends, whether it's AACSB, etc. are much more important.

AACSB programmatic accreditation is great to have on top of a Business Ph.D. if you want to teach at a top grad school. AACSB on top of a DBA is also great to have if you're looking to work for a Big 4 accounting firm or something, but it isn't required otherwise.

Agreed.

If you want to teach in the US, you should be fine if you're looking at foreign AACSB universities, but if not, you should be careful when looking at foreign colleges.

I'm not so sure. There are an awful lot of Americans who think the universe stops at the border, and find that anything international is peculiar at best. If my goal were a full time faculty position at a U.S. institution, especially on the tenure track, I wouldn't go international if I could possibly avoid it. 

Lastly, if you want any kind of AACSB accredited degree, you're probably not going to find one on a limited budget. AACSB schools tend to charge a lot more because of that accreditation. Plus, schools that get that accreditation are really hard to find online to begin with (Covid may change this).

Agreed. At some point one should consider ROI, and IMHO I don't see any of those programs offering enough of one.

Also keep in mind that if you're doing any kind of online doctoral program you'll be paying out of pocket unless your company will pay for it, you can land a scholarship, or you take out a loan or something. If you're able to relocate to attend in person and can dedicate to a full-time Ph.D. in Business or something, that is the most cost-effective approach. If selected, and the program is fully funded, you generally won't have to pay for tuition at all since tuition will usually be covered by a grant or waived in combination with a research or teaching assistantship. Plus those programs will usually pay a stipend on top of all that to cover stuff like rent and food.

Indeed. I would go so far as to say that if one's goal is a tenure track position, do it this way or forget it. I know, I know, there are always exceptions. But that's what they are, exceptions. And the competition for those positions is brutal.

[Merlin]

FYI, if you're looking to lecture (teach) you should be focusing on RA Ph.D. programs and not DBA programs. A DBA is a terminal professional degree, not really an academic degree. You may still be able to teach with a DBA, but it will be much harder to find a gig... or you may be limited to private colleges or 2-year schools.

I disagree. I've seen plenty of business faculty with DBA degrees. Factors like which school one attends, whether it's AACSB, etc. are much more important.

Well... like I said, you can get a teaching job with a DBA, but the curriculum for a DBA is largely different than the curriculum for a Ph.D. in Business (or whatnot). The former is focused more on the application of existing research while the latter is more focused on the contribution of new research. Most top universities are research universities, so they are going to prefer instructors who also have research-focused degrees. They want instructors who will be teaching the next generation of researchers and they want instructors who will be doing original research to publish and help improve the academic resume of the school.

So, if you're looking for a tenure track role at a university that isn't research focused (which includes most private and for-profit universities) then you may have much better luck at landing a role. The bonus here is that those schools tend not to care that much about programmatic accreditation either. However, if you want to pursue a tenure track instructor position at a research university without a Ph.D, or teach business without an AACSB degree, you're going to have an uphill battle.

[ThatBankDude]

Hello! Hopefully I can help a smidge. I earned my MBA from an AACSB Accredited program and I am currently pursuing a specialized masters from a Top 15 B-School (Duke University). Coupled with my professional experience, I was able to land an Adjunct Professor role at an AACSB Accredited B-School. I also Academic Coach for undergraduate Business Ethics at an AACSB program and MBA level Fraud Examination Through Data Analytics at another AACSB program.

For each role, AACSB Accreditation was a large component that they were looking for, although likely not a deal breaker if someone had phenomenal professional experience. I always highly recommend pursuing a graduate business degree at a program that is AACSB accredited, especially if you have any desire to move into academia in some capacity.

Like others have said, if you can pursue a PhD full-time at an AACSB school, then do it. That’ll help you much more if you desire to move into full-time tenure track roles.

[sacredrain]

I also have to disagree with the assessment of DBA to PhD and not finding a full time teaching gig. We have 2 DBA's on staff in our business school, both earned their doctorates via online learning and I work a large publicly supported university now, where all my degrees, except my undergraduate ones were earned online and I am VP at the same university of the online school.  Before this, I was also a faculty member on a non tenured track. At the same time I have colleagues who earned their PhD's the old fashioned way (brick and mortar, did research, etc) and 2 of them cannot find full time teaching gigs.

The thing to do is review job application requirements. If  a school specifically says they are looking for AACSB accredited degees and you do not have one, you probably will not get that position. On the other hand if a job application is not that specific and just mentions either a DBA and/or PhD then you could probably obtain that job. Nothing is guaranteed of course and there are always other thigngs that will make you stand out as a candidate: having degrees in hard to find business areas such as economics, finance, or accounting; journal articles, research, experience, business certifications, course evaluations from students, etc..

[Merlin]

I also have to disagree with the assessment of DBA to PhD and not finding a full time teaching gig. We have 2 DBA's on staff in our business school, both earned their doctorates via online learning and I work a large publicly supported university now, where all my degrees, except my undergraduate ones were earned online and I am VP at the same university of the online school.  Before this, I was also a faculty member on a non tenured track. At the same time I have colleagues who earned their PhD's the old fashioned way (brick and mortar, did research, etc) and 2 of them cannot find full time teaching gigs.

The point I was trying to make above is that any school that requires an AACSB doctorate is most likely going to be looking for Ph.D.'s more than DBA's.

I'm sure it varies quite a bit by the university and the ranking of that university. The less highly ranked a school, the more flexibility they have in how they hire their faculty.

My wife is a faculty member at a local university. At her school, all tenure track professors are required to be Ph.D. holders. We have a friend who teaches at another local college with a DBA, but he is in a non tenure track faculty position. Many schools have adjunct professors who teach with master's degrees... TESU for example. My BUS421 capstone course instructor only had an MBA and not a research-based degree. Then again, I also know people who teach at a 4-year college with only a bachelor's degree, but that isn't the norm at most schools.

In any case, I'm not trying to suggest that someone cannot teach with a DBA. I'm just saying that if teaching is the primary goal, then you'll have an easier time if you pursue a Ph.D. than a DBA. I was originally looking at a DBA myself before I started doing the research and speaking with doctoral advisors and came to the conclusion that if I had any interest in teaching, I'd be better off limiting my search to Ph.D. programs. The nice thing about a Ph.D. is that it can be used in business and academia equally, where the DBA tends to be considered mainly a business/professional degree.