text: Structure and Format Doctor of Business Administration programs have a dual purpose: contribute to business theory and further develop the professional practice (e.g. contribute to professional knowledge in business). Universities generally require candidates to have significant experience in business, particularly in roles with leadership or other strategic responsibilities. DBA candidates specialize in areas such as management science, information technology management, organizational behavior, economics, finance, and the like. As with other doctorate programs, curricula may be offered on a full-time or part-time basis. According to the European higher education standards set by the Bologna Process, the normal duration of research doctorate programs like the DBA and PhD is usually 3 to 4 years of full-time study.
  The responsibility for the structure of doctoral programs resides within the graduate research committees or their equivalent within the university. As such, DBA programs have a specific set of university regulations and are subject to quality approval processes. Regulations include references to protocols for treating ethical issues in research. These regulations are widely used in Australian universities. For instance, a DBA student cannot embark on the research phase before passing the coursework phase. Students must clear ethics-related issues with an ethics committee upon passing the proposal stage. DBA candidates then go through numerous internal moderations of the dissertation before submitting to external examinations (usually at least two). Finally, candidates usually revise their dissertations numerous times before final approval is granted from the doctoral committee.