For ambitious and dedicated professionals who want to set themselves apart from the crowd with a professional doctoral degree, the Doctor in Business Administration (DBA) at Open University Malaysia (OUM) may be the programme for you.
“The DBA programme is accredited by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency and Education Ministry. It is specifically designed to create holistic leaders and academicians who are able to think strategically and innovatively as well as possess the ability to deliver unique solutions and decisions based on research findings and facts,” says programme director Assoc Prof Dr Raemah Abdullah Hashim.
With more than 20 years of experience in the field of education, especially in business administration, Dr Raemah had served as acting dean, deputy dean and academic head at several other institutions prior to joining OUM. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Business Management from Ohio University in the United States and Doctoral in Business Administration from a local university.
DBA learners have to complete 80 credits of core courses, electives and research components to graduate. There are four specialisations to choose from, namely marketing, human resource, management and finance. The programme is divided into three parts – coursework and elective subjects, doctoral concept paper and dissertation.
Dr Raemah explains, “The first part consists of nine coursework and three elective subjects. Learners will be introduced to formal knowledge of a wide variety of business courses and subjects. After their thesis proposals are accepted, they will begin writing their theses with the help of supervisors of their choice. This may take about 1.5 to two years to complete.”
OUM has several experienced professors and academics who are well-versed in the field to ensure learners have enough support and guidance throughout their studies.
Under the current Movement Control Order (MCO), the university has activated the fully online mode for all programmes on offer, from Diploma to Doctorate programmes.
Dr Raemah says, “OUM’s tutors and lecturers are already familiar with online teaching and learning since e-learning has been the university’s practice since its establishment. As the MCO was the catalyst that turned blended learning to fully online learning, we are ready to embrace it.”
She tried a few platforms before deciding to use Google Meet, a business-oriented video-conferencing app. “To facilitate learning for a course like applied statistics actually works best with hands-on teaching. I have had technical issues for a while before getting used to it. A good thing about being an OUM academic is that I already have a strong foundation in teaching online.”
Together with OUM’s learning management system, myINSPIRE, this unified approach to online teaching and learning has strengthened OUM even more as the leading open and distance learning university in the country, particularly during this time.
Dr Raemah says that the MCO has created the opportunity for the university to go fully online and possibly offer the programme globally.
“If you are a leader or academician who wants to enhance and advance your knowledge, skills and capability holistically in all critical disciplines of business administration, the DBA is the right programme for you,” Dr Raemah concludes.
Click here to learn more about the DBA!