Hi guys,

I am new to this forum and I am glad that we have this Phd section in this forum. I have been accepted to a DBA program by a well known British university and will start my course this year. I am living in HK now and thinking about moving back to KL (too long in HK, sian already).

Do you guys think that a DBA graduate can get a good job in Malaysia assuming that you have the right experience? or its a market where people dont care about your knowledge?

Cheers

BTW, the DBA is in real estate finance

What is real estate finance.? Housing loans.?

It's about making investment and finance decisions regarding commercial and housing real estate assets (immovable properties).

Good area of study

Guys, I started the course. Amazing experience. Will tell you if it is worth it after the first year!

Do you have any consultancy component in your syllabus?

mind sharing which University is this? how are u doing the DBA, in MY or UK.

There isn't. According to the DBA accreditations, DBA is actually within the framework of PHD (i.e. it is actually under the academic route, just all all PHD). So, consultancy is not necessary. We just need to finish a big thesis, or alternatively, write 3 journal articles i.e. 3 smaller ones are equilavent to a big one

University of Manchester. Need to go Manchester (but I am Liverpool fan....) 3 times a year. For the first 2 years:

Feb - Need to attend 6 full days (9-5 pm) of lectures
June - Attend conference and workshops (around 4-5 days)
Oct - Need to attend 6 full days (9-5 pm) of lectures

From third year onward, need to go twice a year to work with your supervisor.

So, you need to allocate around 24 days (including travelling days and jet leg recovery days) to attend classes in Manchester.

In addition, there are some coursework to finish which I estimate to take around 10 hours a week (on average) for 52 weeks for the first 2 years. Writing the thesis will depend on you.

So, its a big commitment.

Uni of Manchester used to have the best DBA program and PHD program (both ranked together) in the world, but dropped to third recently. In any event, they are still very reputable. I would not say they are world class, world class. But they are definitely quite good.

Ahh...forgot to say the most important one, there are actually a lot of functions to attend when you are attending the classes in Manchester. The school, the faculty, the course director, alumni and your classmates will arrange A LOT of dinners/functions and you are required to attend and mingle. So, if you are not the type who like to talk talk talk, its not easy to blend in. Classmates are amazing, all very serious, and we set up a Linkedin group just to remind each other what need to be done etc etc. So, everyone is helping everyone. (about 30 of us - all 30 to 50 years old)

thanks for your reply - too big commitment for me

but in your case = congrats to you. Am sure that there are employers who will recognize reputable Uni to answer your first question

After attending the course, I actually think that Asia employers will not pay for this. So, it is a negative IRR investment if you look at it that way. But there are many other benefits.

Bro, your DBA in Real Estate Finance seems very interesting.

What is your specific area of research or discovery

I am researching into the pricing of apartment in China (or any cities) eg. how much premium should we pay for a property with certain features such as school allocation, MRT availability etc etc (in total, 19 factors)

I am also writing about REIT in HK. Another is why we buy property?

Something like that la, I am not there yet even though the school is helping us to develop these concept into concrete plans

DBA, great. hope to enrol one day

That means although it's called a DBA, but it is 100% research based?

No coursework at all?

Well Done, taikor.

SO u will public 3 papers as part of the graduation requirement?

Yes, it is easier that way lor. If write one thesis, thats 100,000 words....by the time I finish the research method, I might have forgotten the topic

No, before you work on your thesis, you are supposed to take 10 subjects --- unlike MBA, these are all (or rather 90%) research subjects such as social research method, quantitative, maths equation. You have to PASS all the coursework of this subject, only then you can work on your thesis.

How about you? Do you have a choice to write 3 shorter papers or you must write a big big thesis?

in my uni that i am currently attached to, publication is not the requirement for graduation.

So i need to write a 200 pages thesis first, after submission and pending review/ Viva, i can split them up to 2-3 publications. most likely i will split them one qualitative paper, another one quantitative.

Both ways (your way or my way) are workable. Your way seems more systematic, as each publication only require max 30 pages, so it should be easier to handle.

This post has been edited by cheahcw2003: Nov 3 2014, 03:59 PM

We actually discussed this in detail with the course director. She said that it is ENTIRELY up to the supervisor as the option is given to him/her. Maybe you should check with the school again because we can do 3 different types of paper, pilot paper, conference paper, publisherable paper etc and it will save you a lot of time...worth trying

We only have 2 mode of PhD.

1) PhD by publication, at least 2 papers goes to Tier A in the university approved list, must be high impact journal.
Most academic staffs also not able to publish in these categories of journal

2) PhD by thesis, traditional way of 5 chapters thesis. If we choose the option 2, the supervisor can only encourage the student to publish but not forcing. A supervisor get warning letter from the uni, as forcing few of his students to publish.

May i know how much would the whole Machester DBA programme cost you? Are you doing this full time?

I am sorry Starbucki, I did not see your reply because there was no notice in the system. And I dont visit the forum regularly.

The program is 55,000 pound for the whole course.

You will need to go Manchester 3 times a year (for the first 2 years). Then you need to go twice a year until you graduate. So, assuming you take 5 years to complete (I am aiming for 3.5 years), you will need to go there 10-12 times. You should assume it cost you 1500 pound per trip.

There is no other costs.

First 2 years is to teach you all the research techniques (statistics, quant, epistemology, equation modelling etc). That is in October and Feb. You will need to attend conference every June. So that is 3 times a year.

From there onward, it pretty much depends on your progress. Most guailors take longer to complete. Most kiasu Asians want to complete fast fast (like me) (mind you, the school fees are the same even if you complete quicker).

It is a good course. It was ranked the best in 2012. But this year dropped to 3rd.

No worries. The notification function isn't all that great I must say.

That is a lot of money and time commitment for a DBA. I believe you are doing that because you have large disposable income and also for the prestige of the uni.

Do share with us more of your experiences as I would like to learn more from you.