MEANINGFUL

CONNECTIONS.
POWERFUL
RESEARCH.
THOUGHT(FUL)
LEADERSHIP.

DBA
Andrew McDouall,
Director, Central Services (Language Centre),
Furtwangen University of Applied Sciences, Germany
NEW UNDERSTANDING
FOR NEW TIMES

Welcome to the University of Bath School of Management.

We offer a safe university campus with a welcoming and friendly atmosphere.

Beyond the campus, Bath is simply a very beautiful place in which to live.
People who come here to research, learn or teach will tell you that they thrive
in this environment.

We seek to lead the way in innovation, industry partnerships and the strengthening
of socially responsible business practice. We have built a strong network of
corporate partners, NGOs and government organisations that support our
research and influence our teaching. This enables us to deliver forward-looking,
practice relevant education.

We are very international in our outlook. We recruit students and faculty from
around the globe and have strong connections with our global alumni network.

What happens in the world matters to us. We are mindful of the ethical, social and
environmental aspects of everything we do as a university. We want you to have a
happy and enriching experience with us and to leave here with the motivation and
commitment to shape and influence the world for the better.

In all of this, we are ambitious. We aim high. It is something we encourage

in everyone who is part of the School – both as individuals and in teams.
Together, we can do wonderful things.

Professor Veronica Hope Hailey

University Vice-President
Dean, School of Management

1
WELCOME TO
THE BATH DBA IN HIGHER
EDUCATION MANAGEMENT
The DBA in Higher Education Management WORLD–CLASS FACULTY
(HEM) is a unique doctoral programme designed You’ll learn from academics who are experts
for higher education leaders combining higher in their fields. Their expertise includes
education and management. management, education, economics and
public policy. Your learning experience will be
Our DBA has been designed specifically to meet enriched by their leading-edge research and
the needs of senior leaders working in universities, active engagement with higher education
government agencies and other higher education institutions, agencies and governments in
organisations. Gain the research skills you need the UK, Europe, Africa, Latin America and
to address the challenges of higher education in Austral-Asia. You’ll also benefit from the
the 21st century and combine it with professional knowledge of Vice-Chancellors, Deans,
practice by applying your increased knowledge to Directors of Human Resources and senior
your work. representatives from funding and quality
assurance agencies.
You’ll be a part of an international programme.
Our DBA consists of students from a range of Please see our website for a comprehensive
nationalities, diverse institutions and national list of academic faculty and associates:
settings allowing you to enjoy a truly global www.bath.ac.uk/teams/school-of-management-
experience. You’ll share experiences and dba-in-higher-education-management-team
professional insights, and develop relationships for
the future. You will learn from lecturers who have
experience in diverse higher education systems.

HIGHLY RANKED
We are one of the UK’s leading business schools. The University of Bath holds a Gold award in the
Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework. This means we consistently deliver outstanding
teaching and learning for our students.

We are a firmly established leading international centre for management research. This is
reflected in our performance in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014.

View our latest awards, accreditations and rankings on our website:

www.bath.ac.uk/management

Awarded Gold in the

Government’s Teaching
Excellence Framework

2
GLOBAL NETWORK AND CONTENTS
A SUPPORTIVE LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT
We welcome students from all over the world 2 Welcome to The Bath DBA in Higher
and emphasise sharing knowledge. You’ll learn Education Management
alongside other higher education professionals
from around the globe facing similar challenges 4 Our campus and city, ambition built in
to you. This could include Deans, Heads of
Department and Senior Administrators. Previous 6 Programme objectives
years have also included Deputy and Pro-Vice-
Chancellors (Vice Presidents) in the programme. 7 Your application

Regular residentials will provide you with the 8-11 Student profiles
opportunity to build relationships with your global
coursemates. Our virtual learning environment
and peer-to-peer support make networking and together leading scholars from a range of
sharing good practice simple. disciplines to develop higher education innovation
for global wellbeing.
The University is also home to the International
Centre for Higher Education Management ICHEM experts lead the DBA in Higher Education
(ICHEM). Since 1994, ICHEM has been at the Management, teach on the programme and
heart of higher education research, bringing supervise research.

“I loved the camaraderie of being

part of a close-knit DBA cohort.
I was lucky to be part of a class
that included students from
Europe, North America, the
Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
We still keep in touch.”
Dr Nigel Martin Healey, Vice-Chancellor,
Fiji National University

3
OUR CAMPUS AND CITY,
AMBITION BUILT IN.
Our campus has a vibrant community atmosphere.
Our library, Sports Training Village, arts centre
and award-winning Students’ Union are all
located within a five-minute walk of one another.
In the past decade, the University has invested
£450 million in campus facilities and we are
currently investing in a new home for the School
of Management.

The beautiful city of Bath is just a few minutes

from campus, surrounded by the rolling green
hills of the Somerset countryside. It’s famous for
its natural hot springs and Georgian architecture.
In fact, Bath is so special it’s the only entire city in
the UK that’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

As popular with tourists as it is with students,

Bath has won awards for its levels of safety. It has
a huge variety of restaurants, cafés, bars and clubs,
as well as theatres, cinemas and museums. Many
students extend their stay after the residentials to
take advantage of all that Bath has to offer.

4
5
PROGRAMME
OBJECTIVES
The DBA in Higher Education Management is
a part-time research degree at doctoral level.

We bring together the latest scholarship and

an applied focus on research. You’ll develop a
thorough understanding of how and why things
happen in contemporary higher education.

As well as developing your leadership expertise,

you’ll graduate with research skills appropriate
for higher educational managers, and be better
equipped to deal with the ethical and political
issues facing higher education today.

The course is designed for you to apply your

knowledge to your work as you progress through
the course. Applying your DBA research to your
own organisation will allow you to:

• understand emerging trends in higher

education
• improve national and international policy
• establish and share best practice in
management and leadership

Course structure
We know how busy leaders are. We’ve designed
our DBA to be flexible around your personal
and professional demands. The DBA in Higher Assessment
Education Management is more structured than The taught phase is like a structured training
a traditional PhD. It consists of two phases: programme to prepare you for your thesis.
During this stage, you’ll complete four
1 a two-year taught programme delivered assignments. The final assignment is a
through four residential sessions in Bath research proposal for your thesis.
(eight days per residential session)
We’ve designed each assignment to give you
2 a DBA research thesis phase content-specific skills and other transferable skills.
Completing all four assignments will give you the
The duration of our programme is minimum key building blocks you’ll need to start your thesis.
three years and maximum eight years.
Please see our website for further details: To be eligible for the thesis phase you will need to
www.bath.ac.uk/management/dba complete and pass all four assignments.

6
YOUR
APPLICATION
Admissions
Entry to the Bath DBA in Higher Education
Management is competitive and we take a holistic
view when evaluating candidates.

We take many factors into account when

assessing applicants, including professional
experience. We are looking for individuals with a
strong record of achievement and ability, who are
ready to make a significant contribution to both
their cohort and their community.

Entry criteria
You must:

• be a university graduate or have a graduate

level professional qualification
• hold a postgraduate or advanced graduate
qualification in a field relevant to the
programme
• have a minimum of three years’ professional
work experience with the potential to achieve
significant organisational change within an
organisation or the higher education sector
in general
• have two good references - one should be
academic (if you have studied in the last five
years) and the other professional
• include a statement detailing your motivation
for applying and your research interest
  “I was looking for a programme
Completing your application that had an international
Complete your application online. approach and Bath was the
natural choice.”
The programme begins in November each year.
Places are limited and early application is advised. Dr Nina Volles, International Senior
Consultant in Higher Education
Fees and funding Management, Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Please see our website for further information: Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
www.bath.ac.uk/management/dba

7
Dr Luz Longsworth,
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal,
University of West Indies (Open Campus)

8
 NETWORK
LEADERSHIP Choosing the DBA at Bath Perhaps the most significant value that
I had been a University Lecturer the DBA had for me was the ability to
and Administrator for over 25 years. research an area uniquely relevant to
I started looking at PhD programmes my institution. Through that research,
but realised they didn’t have the balance I developed a model of leadership that
of theory and practice in the area of has guided the growth and evolution of
Higher Education Leadership and my campus.
Management that I was interested
in developing. Helping me to achieve my
career goals
The Bath DBA in Higher Education The DBA has been instrumental in
Management was recommended improving my professional practice
to me by two colleagues who were in Higher Education Management.
enrolled in the programme. It had The modules all helped me to think
the balance I was after. strategically about the future of my
organisation and helped change
The DBA in HEM was also a unique and modernise the way we operate.
programme as it allowed me to I believe that this ability to think
maintain my full-time job at my strategically about HE was instrumental
University in the West Indies while in my appointment to my current post
pursuing the programme at Bath of Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor.
through well-timed residentials.

A programme I could apply to

GLOBAL

my work
Everything in the DBA programme
modules was relevant to my day-to-day
reality as a senior administrator in the
University of the West Indies.

“It has been one of my most cherished

educational experiences to have had the honour
and pleasure to interact with so many outstanding
professionals in one cohort.”

9
Amine Moussa,
Senior Specialist - Head, Library Information Systems
Department, Notre Dame University-Louaize, Lebanon

10
GLOBAL NETWORK Why I wanted to do a DBA The residentials play a major part
I knew I wanted to do a doctoral in bringing us closer together and
programme that would combine theory developing a strong global network.
and practice. As Head of the Library Getting to know how each person
Information Systems Department at thinks about a certain problem and
the Notre Dame University-Louaize, approaches a solution has added
Lebanon, I needed a doctoral a lot to my experience and broadened
programme that would suit my busy my knowledge.
work schedule and life commitments.
That’s how I ended up choosing The residentials also include different
the Bath DBA in Higher Education sessions on doctoral writing skills.
Management. These help us to develop our academic
writing skills, preparing us for writing
A unique programme our thesis.
Given its record of excellence in
management studies, the Bath DBA Another great thing about the
stood out because of its specialisation residentials is the support we receive
in Higher Education Management. from the administrative and academic
The DBA involves researching issues staff. The team is always available
at our own institutions. This is what to answer any questions and help
makes this DBA unique. You will learn us through any issues. Feedback is
the latest theory and put it into practice encouraged during the residentials,
outside of the course. Another great and our comments and suggestions
aspect of the course is that after only are taken into consideration.
a year of study I’ve been able to apply
it to my work already. Go to www.bath.ac.uk/case-
studies/research-reputation-and-
Sharing experiences at the residentials-why-i-chose-the-dba-in-
residentials higher-education-management/
My favourite part of the course has to read Amine’s story.
definitely been the residentials. Around
20 students from all over the world
meet in Bath for a week, twice a year.
My coursemates come from over ten
different countries.

11
Irene Horsham,
Deputy Rector (Institutional Advancement, Corporate &
International Affairs), MountCrest University College, Ghana

12
13
Get in touch
If you’d like to find out more, contact the DBA (HEM)
administrators for an informal chat on +44 (0) 1225 386213
or you can email us: [email protected]

We can also arrange for a telephone or Skype call.

For more information or to make an application, visit our

website: www.bath.ac.uk/management/dba

There may be occasions where due to unforeseen or unavoidable

circumstances it becomes necessary to make significant changes to a
course or to withdraw it or part of it, for example a particular unit/module.
Such action could become necessary if for example the following were to
occur:

• a key member of staff leaves the University and we are unable to find
a suitable replacement (e.g. with the requisite academic knowledge/
experience)

• a professional body or regulator/accreditor requires changes to be

made to a course or withdraws their accreditation of a course

• changes have to be made to reflect legislative changes/requirements

• changes have to be made to reflect changes in standards set

by relevant regulators and/or in keeping with best practice or
developments related to the particular discipline/subject area

• student feedback clearly indicates that immediate changes be made to

a course or unit

• unexpected low recruitment to a course or unit/module means it is

simply no longer viable or practical to run it.

Find out more about this and other important University terms and
conditions: go.bath.ac.uk/pgp-important-terms

look for bathsofm or Bath School of Management

MN-0337-0719