Admissions to the Doctorate Degree Programmes

The normal requirement for entry to a Doctorate Degree Programme of the British American University is a Master Degree in a relevant subject. However, some programmes may allow other forms of entry, which is equivalent to a Master Degree. Please check the prospectus for each programme’s requirement.

DOCTORATE PROGRAMME REQUIREMENTS

All applications to the Doctorate Degree Programme must be approved by the Course Committee. Applicants should only be accepted after the receipt of satisfactory detailed research proposal.

THE DOCTORATE DISSERTATION PROJECT

All students within the British American University must submit a Doctorate Dissertation Project. This is a researched paper, original and will contribute to knowledge of at least 60,000 words in length. The Doctorate Dissertation grade will be included on your final academic transcript.

FIELD EXPERIENCES FOR CREDIT

The number of credits for Work Experience may have been earned as part of the application procedure. However, should the candidate do not fulfil the required credits, he/she is allowed to fill in the deficiency while in the programme.

FINAL ASSESSMENT

After the completion of all requirements, the Graduate Review Committee (GRC) will conduct a final assessment of each student’s performance. The Final Assessment Report will then be placed into the student's permanent file to document the rationale of awarding a Master Degree.
 

CREDIT UNITS FOR THE PROGRAMME

1. Work Experience      120 credits
2. Dissertation Project   80 credits
    Total                    200 credits

WRITING A DOCTORATE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

The purpose of a research proposal is to provide the University with a clear indication of the topic in which the student is interested, and also give an indication of the student’s ability to identify and develop an interesting research question. Most potential supervisors will consider research proposal as preliminary indicators of the applicant’s area of interest and will not necessarily assume that the proposal defines exactly the research that the student will undertake.

Thus, the main concern when preparing a research proposal is to indicate the area in which the research will be undertaken and the interesting and original issues which arise in that area and which you wish to examine in more detail. However, you should avoid making any substantial changes to the broad direction of your research after acceptance; your acceptance will be based on both academic ability and the availability of interested and suitably qualified supervisors. A significant change to your research plans without consultation with your supervisor may mean that you have a topic, which falls, outside your supervisor’s area of expertise.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

The proposal will be considered in conjunction with your academic qualifications by the University. Your qualifications will provide the University and potential supervisors with evidence of your academic ability. Your research proposal will be used first, to determine whether there are staff in the University who are qualified and willing to supervise in the area you have chosen and second, to give an indication of your aptitude for research. You need to demonstrate to the reader that you understand the area in which you plan to take research; that you are able to identify an interesting and original research question and that you have some understanding of how to conduct research. A typical research proposal will be somewhere between 1,500 and 3,000 words. While there is no definitive format, the following guidelines should help in the preparation of a research proposal.

The proposal should begin by identifying the subject for research both in terms of theoretical issues and relevant empirical applications. This will serve as an introduction to the research proposal. The proposal should then briefly review relevant literature and theories relating to the research area. At this stage it is important to be able to demonstrate familiarity with the major line of argument which have been developed in your area and to demonstrate an understanding of the ideas and findings of key researchers working on your topic.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Depending on the nature of your subject it will then usually be desirable to give some indication of the research methods that will be used in the conduct of research. Clearly a variety of different research methods exist – you should seek to identify the approach that is most suited to your area of research – for example, experimentation, participant observation, forms of textual analysis, econometric modelling, ethnography, survey data analysis, the analysis of historical records etc).

Subsequently, where the dissertation involves empirical work you should provide some indication of the form and location of that empirical work and where and how you might collect any relevant data. For example you might like to say something about access to particular sources of information (whether you need on-line access to databases, whether you can use relevant archives etc). You could also comment on the country or geographical area in which the study will take place (whether you have made a particular choice, if so why, and the advantages and disadvantages of this choice).

It is also worth saying something about the subjects of the research (are you looking at individuals, groups, texts, companies etc) and provide some justification for your choices. Obviously the actual empirical work that will be undertaken may well be rather different for that outlined in the research proposal, depending on the findings of detailed literature reviews. However the purpose of such a section in a research proposal is to provide an indication that the applicant has an understanding of the issues associated with the conduct of research and the ability to design a research study to address a specific set of issues.

RESEARCH FINDINGS

Finally, although no indication of the research findings can be presented, it is often beneficial to conclude the research proposal by indicating how you envisage your research will contribute to debates and discussions in your particular subject area. This means providing some indication of how you feel your research can make an original contribution, how it may fill gaps in existing work and how it may extend understanding of particular topics. Always include a bibliography with your research proposal, which lists books and articles to which you make reference in your discussion of the proposed research.

CHANGES OF RESEARCH

Of course, you will not be forced to concentrate exactly on what you specify in your proposal unless you want to. On the other hand, you must be wary of making or planning to make any major changes in the subject of your research. If your proposal indicates an aptitude for research, and you are offered a place, you will have the opportunity to discuss your research plans with your supervisor in detail and you may change aspects of your proposal if you and your supervisor consider such changes desirable or beneficial.