The Doctor of Business Administration DBA revolves around an application and practice-centric research object, i.e., a topic that is of considerable relevance for actual practitioners and businesses in the field. The thinking behind this is that business leaders and executives should be able to use the DBA course to acquire the scientific methods and academic knowhow that can aid them in their professional work.
The DBA differs from a PhD in that its participants grapple with a practice-centric topic in order to qualify for the challenging responsibilities in their professional worlds. As in PhD research, they are expected to advance their field of research by applying relevant scientific methods and processes.
All graduates completing the Doctor of Business Administration DBA at Silpakorn University are entitled to the “Dr” prefix to their names in Switzerland. All foreign degrees awarded by accredited higher education institutions as part of regular study or research degrees* can be used in their original form with an additional reference to the awarding entity, as regulated in the 2016 whitepaper «Legal protection of titles of Swiss higher education qualifications » (2nd draft), paragraph 2, of the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation. On 20 May 2019, swissuniversities also published its «Recommendation on the use of foreign doctorates in Switzerland», which reaffirms the regulations of the SBFI.
In other countries, being able to bear the prefix Dr depends on the respective national regulations. In Germany, graduates of a Doctor of Business Administration DBA program are entitled to bear the prefix Dr, based on the decision by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (Kultusministerkonferenz). In the US, both the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United States Department of Education characterizes a Doctor of Business Administration DBA as a “research degree” – and thereby as equivalent to a PhD – thus allowing the bearing of the prefix Dr. Also, the British Economic and Social Research Council allows bearing the prefix Dr after having graduated from a Doctor of Business Administration DBA program. Please consult the respective educational policies in your home-country for regulations about the use of the prefix Dr. We are happy to support you with this.
* Silpakorn University is an accredited university. The DBA of Silpakorn University is a regular study and research degree awarded by the university.
