Hi Everyone - I was asked to try and determine if DBAs are really professional degrees or if they have in fact "spilled over" to the research side of the house thereby moving them from the professional category. The DBA is not listed in the authorized list of professional degrees and a search (non-scientific!) of DBA programs yields mixed results, with many programs trying to straddle the fence indicating the degree is for the senior executive seeking to gain a mastery of business but who will also exhibit origian research and writing by preparing a dissertation. Hence my question and the subject of this posting: What are you doing with your DBA? Of course this will be anecdotal, and I do not expect more than that, but it is a place to start and from which I may begin to draw some conclusions. For those of you who love to get behind the questions and who know that I am president of a DETC school and who also know the rules around DETC's right to accredit schools with first professional degrees, while the information I am requesting could certainly be interpreted to mean that we (Aspen) are considering trying to get a DBA approved as a professional degree, at the present time I can assure you that is not the case and not the reason for my question. Call it professional courtesy - I was asked what I knew about the subject and once I very quickly exhausted what I knew, I thought I would check with the well informed group at degreeinfo.com so I could provide something to a colleague! Thanks, Mary
Mary, I'm not a DBA (darn that ol' Ph.D. anyway!). But I intend to pursue one in the future. In my case, it will not be to build on my business skills and my MBA. Rather, it will be to conduct more business-related research, but of a more practical (and operational) nature. Thus, the DBA seems more appropriate than the Ph.D. Regarding the DBA and DETC, didn't IMC try to get theirs included in their DETC accreditation? I believe they did, but withdrew the effort when it became clear that the DBA wasn't considered a first professional degree. No wonder, since it much more resembles a Ph.D. than it does first professional degrees like law and medine.
Hi Rich - I think there were other reasons that IMC withdrew its efforts to have the DBA accredited. Among professional degrees I have heard bandied about are the Psy.D. and D. HS (Doctor of Health Sciences) neither of which are included on the list of first professional degrees so perhaps there is even another category of degrees between first professional and the full-on Ph.D. but again this is not an area in which I have done much research. Thanks for your comments though. Hope you are doing well! Mary
I'm teaching with my DBA. As far as I see it, there is no consistent difference between DBAs and PhD's. Some schools, including Harvard and some Southern schools, only award the DBA. Over the years, some schools gave you a choice of PhD or DBA (for example, Indiana did that for some time), with an identical program. Some schools differentiate the two claiming the PhD as a research degree and the DBA (if offered at all) as a practitioner degree. A now deceased colleague of mine went to a school were the only difference was passing a language exam. He had trouble with this requirement, so he earned a DBA. Of late it seems that the label DBA is giving way to PhD's. Nova Southeastern is working to drop their DBA in facvor of a PhD. In the end it doesn't seem to matter. Job postings typically call for a PhD or DBA or more generically an "earned doctorate in business". Once I was hired - no one seems to care as long as I have an earned doctorate. Regards - Andy
I drew this observation from their own meeting minutes. Of course, there could be many reasons not revealed--the disadvantage of being an outside observer. We had a splendid chat in 1997. Perhaps another is due?
Hi Andy: I think that sums it up. i.e. while the intent might have been to create a degree for the senior executive wanting to go beyond the MBA but not seek an academic career, more and more the reality is there are more DBAs teaching then there are working as business professionals. Thanks for your comments. Mary
Hi Rich: Certainly I am also an outside observer, but minutes, since they are intended for outsiders often do not tell the whole story, nor do they have to I suppose. 1997 - that is a long time - and look at what you have accomplished since then! I always welcome a chat with some of the, dare I say it, oldtimers, in the business. I find it hard to believe that I have been doing this since 1988, and of course there are many others who have been doing it even longer! Best, Mary
Mary Is the DETC actively working to extend accreditation to degrees that have a professional element such as DBA, DMin or DPsy? I know that their general direction is to accredit all degrees. The accrediting of a few schools offering first professional doctorates seems to be advancing well. Any news on the next step? I realize that you do not represent the DETC but you are slightly better connected than me.
Hi Dennis: I will admit to being slightly better connected to DETC than you, but beyond that anything I have to say on this topic is really just observational! I know that the DETC is not considering Ph.D. level degrees. I also know that some schools in the council would like to see additional professional degrees be included in the DETC scope. My guess is that just as with the JD and DPT, the schools who want to get recognition for other degrees will work hard to make their case and likely the commissioners will listen. The latter does not mean the commissionersy will agree and seek an increase in scope. However, again from my observation, I think that in time, if the schools continue to collect data there is a chance that the scope could be expanded - I just don't know if the time element is months or years. That isn't much more than you know already since I can't really share which schools have an interest in moving this forward. The response to the schools who have been approved for the JD and DPT has been good, so that certainly works in favor of trying to do more. I think the PsyD, D.Min and D.HSc are good candidates, and possibly even the DBA, but the latter may prove to be the most problematic in my opinion simply because it is open to too much interpretation. So there you have it, for what it's worth. I feel compelled to remind everyone one more time that I do not speak for the council so that I do not find myself quote or misquoted on this topic now or in the future! Best, Mary
http://www.detc.org/downloads/accredhandbook/7%20-%20Q%20&A%20on%20Accreditation%20-%20Pages%2035-38%202003.pdf According to the accreditation handbook for DETC, they do plan to expand to doctoral-level programs in the future. (Second question on the second page.)
