Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.
The University of Bolton's DBA is designed for those currently in or aspiring to senior or middle leadership roles and responsibilities. It's highly relevant for business practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and scholars interested in exploring leaders and leadership in a business context and developing their critique and analyses of best practices to inform managerial decision-making.
Successful completion of this DBA course will enhance professional effectiveness, emphasising leadership, reform, and managing change. Holders of this qualification will possess skills in organisation and management and the knowledge and political skills needed to improve public and private business-related environments.
What can I do with this qualification?
Possession of a DBA will enhance your career opportunities. It can support your progression into management. This could include senior headships, executive roles, higher education academic roles, and chief executive roles in business (including the third sector).
Alternative career options
Graduates can also use the qualification as a stepping stone into a range of other careers. For some of these roles, relevant experience and/or postgraduate study may be required. Some of these careers include:
- Business and commerce
- Consultancy
- Local Authority senior management
- Local government
- Higher education
Home students starting this course in the first year will be required to pay a Home fee of £4,250 for the academic year 2024/25.
Overseas students starting this course in the first year will be required to pay a Overseas fee of £7,975 for the academic year 2024/25.
Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2023-2024 academic year:
EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status.
If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement.
Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.
The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the
normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in
March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.
Bursaries
Click here for more information about the scholarships and bursaries available to University of Bolton students.
This programme combines a range of blended learning approaches enriched with emerging technologies, with flexible delivery designed to fit around your demanding personal and professional commitments. We aim to provide a safe but challenging space in a supportive community of peers, and our supervisors, module tutors, guest speakers and moderators are themselves experienced managers and leaders in a variety of areas, and engaged in the drive to raise the quality of provision in all sectors.
We favour a style of interaction that places a great deal of emphasis on personal responsibility, self and critical awareness, recognition of the needs of others, and open and honest communication. We’ll encourage you to undertake scholarly reflection on, and experiment with, new concepts and ideas, and guide you in the development of your professional understanding of practice, and research skills.
We aim to act as facilitators – helping you to develop the necessary critical distance from which to review and evaluate research, relevant existing and emerging theories, policies, and best practices. We’ll encourage you to examine and challenge your own professional practice and its relationship with theory and trends, and support you to design and undertake your own ethically-informed research.
Crucially, your studies will usher you towards the development, production and defence of your thesis – a comprehensive study of your application of knowledge to a professional practice issue or issues with a shared theme. To this end, you’ll work with a named supervisor, your Director of Studies, who will guide and advise you through to submission and the oral examination. They’ll have expertise in the area of your proposed research so you can discuss your ideas in tutorial sessions.
Overall, you’ll be expected to demonstrate significant independence in your study, taking responsibility for the management of your own learning time.
Modules
The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.
- Practices of Inquiry
- Research Methodologies
- Policy and Practice in Business
- Pilot Research Project
- The Doctoral Thesis
Assessment methods
| Level | Assesment method |
|---|
| Level one | Coursework 100% |
|---|
Learning activities
| Level | Learning activity |
|---|
| Level one | Guided independent study 80%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 20% |
|---|
Disclaimer
The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.
