Graduate Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

The Ph.D. is a research degree and the highest degree offered by the University. All departments and schools offer admission to a program leading to the Ph.D. Several interdepartmental programs award graduate certificates. Dual degree programs also are offered in partnership with certain cooperating professional schools.

We offer a wide rang of professional field for the research student.  Some popular fields are :

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Program

CU offers two pathways in its doctoral program, namely: 1. a professional pathway, and 2. a research pathway. The professional pathway is in the field of business management and has been designed with the specific objective of finding innovative ways of uniting professional practice with academic knowledge. It is aimed specifically at mid-career executives (or persons with significant managerial experience at the mid career level) and is designed to help students apply research-based thinking to business ideas while deepening and broadening their ideas of business practice. Candidates with this objective in mind are oriented towards the professional pathway in the doctoral program. Successful completion of the professional pathway in the program leads to the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) qualification which is awarded by CU. It is a practical and research-based track in the doctoral program designed for mid-career executives who have already completed the MBA (or equivalent qualification) and are looking to further enhance their practical and theoretical knowledge base. As such it can be said to be a specialist qualification which is aimed at professional development in business and industry.

A candidate’s chosen field of thesis research must be compatible with the areas of supervisory capacity at CU which currently are the following:

• International Business Management
• Global Finance
• Accounting
• Human Resources Management
• Business Strategy
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• Change Management
• Marketing
• Managerial Economics
• Supply Chain Management
• Healthcare Management
• ICT Management

Program Objectives

The overall objective of this three-year professional doctoral programme is to enable candidates make significant contribution to both theory and practice in their field and to develop professional practice at the highest level in business administration. It is aimed at developing mid career executives with managerial and applied research capability who will confidently lead their organizations in the dynamic and highly competitive global marketplace. The professional path in the doctoral programme is appropriate for candidates whose objective is to pursue professional, industry-based careers and would like to be given the opportunity to reflect on best practice rather than in pursuing an academic/research career. It aims to provide candidates with innovative approaches for integrating academic and professional knowledge. Candidates will be actively encouraged to choose a thesis topic that is related to their area of responsibility in an organization or an area they wish to focus upon in their career development following graduation from the programme.
Total duration for completing the programme on a full-time basis is three (3) years made up of courses/research seminars and workshops and doctoral thesis research. The course component of the programme amounts to 60 credit points.
Candidates start the programme with three fundamental courses in scientific research. These are:

• Philosophy of science
• Qualitative Research Methodology, and
• Quantitative Research Methodology

There are 30 class contact hours in each of the modules. Following successful completion of these fundamentals of scientific research courses students then proceed to take the specialized courses in their chosen area of focus in the doctoral programme.

Apart from the courses/research seminars organized at the institution candidates in the doctoral programme are encouraged to actively participate in doctoral courses/research seminars/workshops organized at other higher education institutions in Europe and abroad so as to enable them gain a wider perspective of their chosen field of research.

Program Curriculum

The curriculum of the program comprises two components: 1. Courses/Research Seminars/Workshops, and 2. Research leading to the DBS thesis. The course component of the program is as follows:

DBA Thesis Requirements and Supervision

Details related to the requirements of thesis at the institution are provided in the “Thesis Handbook: Graduate School”. Students are therefore required to read carefully the Thesis Handbook in order to thoroughly familiarize themselves with the applicable regulations.

As far as supervision of thesis research is concerned it is to be noted that the DBA thesis supervisor generally looks at the scientific work being prepared by the student, supervises it, and is committed to ensuring that quality standards of the work are being met. The supervisor is a person with the requisite academic qualification and experience in the chosen field of the thesis research. The supervisor has expert knowledge of the field in which the student is carrying out his/her research. The Supervisor’s task is to guide the DBA student from commencement of the research through the oral presentation and defense of the completed research work (DBA viva)

The thesis supervisor has to ensure that the DBA student takes initiatives and is creative. The supervisor has the duty to inform the director of the program on all matters related to the supervision of the DBA student. The director, in turn, informs the DBA Program Committee on all matters related to the DBA program.

The thesis supervisor is required to sign the Thesis Approval Form. Additionally, the DBA Academic Coordinator is required to sign the thesis approval form. The signature of the Academic Coordinator is an assertion of the authenticity of the adviser’s signature and of the acceptability of the thesis to the Graduate School. Therefore, this signature must be original. All required signatures must be submitted to the Graduate School on the same form in support of the thesis deposit.

A DBA degree candidate studying full-time is expected to complete all degree requirements within three (3) years of first registering as a degree-seeking student in the DBA program. A DBA degree candidate studying part-time is expected to complete all degree requirements within five (5) years of first registering as a degree-seeking student in the DBA program.
Details regarding DBA thesis requirements are provided in the publication “Theses Handbook: Graduate School”.

Master’s Degrees

The University awards the following as final professional degrees: Master of Architecture (M.Arch.), Master of Engineering (M.Eng.), Master in Finance (M.Fin.), Master of Science in Engineering (MSE), Master of Science in Chemistry (M.S.), Master in Public Affairs (MPA) and Master in Public Policy (MPP). Dual degree programs also are offered in partnership with certain cooperating professional schools.

The Master of Arts (M.A.) is available as a final degree only in Near Eastern studies. In all other fields of study, the Master of Arts (or, in the Composition section of the Department of Music, the Master of Fine Arts) is awarded as an incidental degree for Ph.D. candidates. Each department sets its own requirements for the award of the M.A.