The Faculty of Business and Government makes a major contribution to research at University of Canberra; we have over 75 higher degrees by Research candidates working in the Faculty across 5 disciplinary areas:

• Accounting, Banking and Finance
• Economics (includes Labour market research)
• Government (includes public sector management & leadership, development administration, politics and public policy)
• Management and Marketing (includes human resource management, strategic management and organisation studies)
• Tourism Management

Each of these disciplines has academics who can supervise you. See the Faculty website.

For more information about our research interests and strengths check out the following websites:

• ANZSOG Institute for Governance
• Centre for Tourism Research
• NATSEM
• Labor Market Research

The Faculty offers two kinds of doctoral programs, one is a traditional PhD doctoral program suitable for candidates with a strong research background usually entrants hold a relevant Honours Degree, a Research Masters Degree, or a Masters by Coursework Degree that includes studies in research methods and completion of a 10,000 word research project/thesis:

244AC Doctor of Philosophy in Commerce
244AD Doctor of Philosophy in Economics
921AA Doctor of Philosophy in Government
853AA Doctor of Philosophy in Management

The second kind of Doctoral Program is the Professional Doctorate. This suits candidates with a strong professional background interested in combining some coursework studies of their field and of research methods with a thesis that is 25-30% smaller than the PhD. The school of Business and Government offers 2 Professional Doctorates:

851AA Professional Doctorate in Business Administration (Research)
324AA Professional Doctorate in Public Administration (Research)

The School of Business and Government also offers 3 research masters degrees:

920AA Master of Arts in Government (Research)
372AA Master of Arts in Tourism (Research)
859AA Master of Business (Research)

You can find out more information about each of these courses in the Courses & Units Online Handbook.

What is the difference between a PhD and a Professional Doctorate (eg DBA, DPA)?

A PhD 

A PhD takes 3 years and has traditionally been the highest research degree and the only degree that entitles you to call yourself Dr. To do a PhD you need to have shown you can do primary research. In the field you wish to study you usually need to have:

• a 1st class or 2A honours degree with a thesis component of 10,000 to 20,000 words; or
  
• a Masters (research) degree; or
  
• a Masters (coursework) degree with a distinction average and a significant component of research training units and a research project with dissertation. Usually one third of the units should be for the research project and research training units.

Research experience with publications in international refereed journals can mean you will be granted equivalence to one of the above and so can apply for a PhD.

The Professional Doctorate

The Professional Doctorate takes 3 years and is now offered by some Australian Universities as equivalent to the PhD. Graduates can call themselves Dr and this degree is highly regarded; it perhaps ranks a little below the PhD in pure research Universities, but it often ranks more highly in workplaces. This is because the research done in a Professional Doctorate is usually more applied research with an emphasis on practical outcomes. It was designed for professionals without a research background but with considerable work experience wanting to undertake a research degree at doctoral level. The Professional Doctorate in Australia is modelled on the US PhD program and combines coursework and substantial research. Usually the route into a Professional Doctorate is a Masters by coursework in the field of study. In the Professional Doctorate you will spend the 1st year in a taught program learning research methods and in-depth coursework in your field of study. The dissertation will be done over 2 years and is about two thirds of the length of the PhD.