DBA Degree Programs

 

January 3, 2012

By Andrew S. Griffith, DBA

The opinions presented here do not necessarily represent those of any educational institution. They are only the opinions of the author that were derived from reading published academic research and also from his personal experiences and observations.

What is the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree really about?  The answer to that question depends on the academic institution and the point in time in question.  A good doctoral program will always be evolving because its faculty members will be heavily involved in the latest developments within the applicable fields (including the research aspects of it).  A stale program will be one that evolved into something and then ceased doing what brought it to its highest level of quality.  (If most of the other doctoral programs are evolving in a forward direction, stale programs, by default, cannot help but deteriorate in quality.) 

In general, the output of the DBA programs varies by institution.  Some programs currently intend only to equip their students with skills that enhance their consulting abilities.  Other programs currently intend to equip their students with skills related to conducting applied research.  Selected programs currently prepare their students with skills related to developing theory (traditional academic research).  In reality, some institutions succeed at combining two or more of these output objectives into the skills of the graduates of their programs. 

Based partially on information found in the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (as of December 18, 2011), the DBA degree program began before 1952.  At its peak of popularity, more than 100 universities and colleges conferred DBA degrees.  Over time, most of those institutions migrated away from the DBA degree label.  Those DBA degrees were replaced with PhD degrees in Business Administration.  It is important to note that the content of many such programs did not change significantly with the change in degree title. 

To save you some time, a list of programs who currently offer DBA degrees is presented below (if the institution is not on this list & it is in the U.S., you probably should not consider it a viable option).  Following that list is a partial list of institutions that have discontinued the issuing of the DBA degree (and most likely replaced it with a PhD in Business Administration). 

If you find an institution that issues DBA degrees and is not on this list, please send the institution’s name and URL via email to Dr. Griffith.