DHA Suffa University offers a very in-depth PhD in Management Sciences in Pakistan, which helps the PhD candidates to develop a skill set encompassing academic engagements, research and awareness of social and cultural issues, thus enabling them to bring in new knowledge and solutions to issues faced by local or global businesses.

Faculty

The Department of Management Sciences has a highly qualified faculty possessing vast experience of teaching and research in leading universities. Most of them also have a rich experience of working for the industry. The faculty is actively engaged in developing solutions for present day business problems using futuristic concepts. Such projects have great potential for local and overseas funding and grants. The faculty has considerable command over its respective subjects and is interested in management development. Hence the BBA program classroom its extensive academic knowledge supplemented by research, consultancy and industry experience.

Program Requirements

Following are the general requirements of the PhD degree program:

• PhD Coursework: 18 Credit Hours
• PhD Comprehensive Exam
• PhD Proposal Defence
• PhD Research and Thesis: 36 Credit Hours (culminating in a Dissertation)
• Publication Requirements (a minimum of one publication in an HEC approved journal)
• Thesis Evaluation by Foreign and Local Experts
• Thesis Defence

Coursework

Students in the PhD Management Sciences are required to complete a coursework of 18 credit hours wth a CGPA of 3.0/4.0. The coursework consists of an approved set of courses as decided by the PHD students’s Supervisor and Advisory Committee.

Comprehensive Exam

After having completed the PhD coursework satisfactorily, with a minimum CGPA of 3.0/4.0, a candidate of PhD Management Sciences is required to pass a Comprehensive Written and Oral Examination in his/her field of study before being allowed to formally start the research phase. The Advisory Committee will conduct written and oral comprehensive examination and award a Pass/Fail grade to the candidate. The written examination is, primarily, based on the course undertaken during the coursework phase but may also test the candidate’s overall knowledge of the fundamentals of the subject. The written part of the comprehensive examination must be conducted within three months of the completion of the coursework.

Proposal Defence

The oral part of the comprehensive examination will consist of the defence of candidate’s PhD research proposal. The oral examination shall be conducted, at the latest, within six months of the passing of written examination.

Research and Thesis

A candidate of PhD Management Sciences will start his/her research work after passing the comprehensive examination. The research work is to be carried out under the supervision of the Supervisor and/or Co-Supervisor. The PhD candidate must develop his/her research proposal within 6 months of the completion of the coursework phase and defend it successfully as second part of the comprehensive exam. The research proposal should clearly identify the research problem and review the state-of-the-art. The candidate shall defend it orally before the Advisory Committee and interested audience. The thesis is expected to be the candidate’s own account of the research work undertaken. The thesis may consist of a single written work. The language of expression and analysis must be English and must demonstrate a satisfactory standard of literary presentation. The PhD thesis is expected to make a distinct contribution to knowledge and must show the evidence of originality by the discovery of new facts and/or by offering new interpretation.

Publication Requirements

The PhD candidate must publish at least one research paper based on his/her PhD research in an HEC recognized journal prior to the submission of final draft of the thesis to the University.

Thesis Evaluation

The PhD thesis will be evaluated by at least two Foreign and one Local Evaluator. The thesis shall be evaluated as “Approved,” “Not Approved,” or “Conditionally Approved”. The Conditionally Approved evaluation report shall mean that an Evaluator wants the candidate to make specific changes in the thesis. The Evaluator shall specify changes required in the Conditionally Approved evaluation report. The candidate shall make the required changes in consultation with the Supervisor, within the time period fixed by the Board of Advanced Studies and Research. If the candidate has made the suggested changes to the satisfaction of the Evaluator, the thesis shall be considered to have received an “Approved” evaluation report after the Evaluator has approved the changes in writing. The thesis must be approved by the Foreign Evaluators, before the candidate will be allowed to make a defence of the thesis.

Thesis Defence

After receiving approval of the thesis by the Foreign Evaluators, the Supervisor and the majority of the Advisory Committee, PhD candidate is allowed to conduct the final defence of the thesis. The thesis defence shall be publicized and open to all those interested, the formal evaluation shall be done only by the approved Panel of Examiners.