Business School Netherlands (BSN), has officially launched a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) programme in its executive education offering. The institution says the idea is to further research and knowledge production in the field of business in Nigeria.

To this end, ten corporate executives drawn from various sectors of the economy are the first enrolees from Nigeria for the European DBA programme.

Mr Lere Baale, CEO Business School Netherlands Nigeria, said that the introduction of Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) degree is one of the platforms through which the institution seeks to wrestle lack of advanced skills to facilitate overall business growth among Nigerian high networth professionals.

“The executive MBA programme is seen as the pinnacle of all business administration qualifications. It is our mission to offer this Doctorate in Business Administration to senior professoinals, chief executive officers, directors and senior managers in order for them to experience professional advancement, develop research skills and a scientific attitude through the encouragement of original research at doctorate level whilst adding new theory and/or findings to the existing body of knowledge in business administration,” he explained.

Baale added: “BSN Nigeria was founded with the intent to address growing need for twenty first century skills, stem unemployment by increasing employability skills of graduates through executive education, entrepreneurial skills, MBA, DBA as well as improve the skills of frontline managers to accelerate business growth.”

Candidates on the DBA would spend a minimum of four years in the programme divided into four phases.

Business School Netherlands states that the “Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) is a management practitioner’s degree and, while not a requirement, continued involvement in an organisation is essential for keeping the theoretical and methodological contents of your DBA studies grounded in a practical setting. A DBA focuses on developing a scientific attitude, rather than merely completing a research project. Application of research methods within a theoretical framework is a skill that will serve you throughout your career.”

BSN was founded with the intent to contribute to higher education in management learning and facilitate the development of managers’ skills, knowledge, research capabilities and ability to take action with regards to the problems, prospect and challenges facing their organizations.

BSN’sprogrammescarry the intrinsic character of the Action Learning Methodology. Through the Action Learning practice, the students apply the essential learnings in their various subject areas by researching and developing solutions for their organisations immediately after completing each module.

The Nigerian arm of Business School Netherlands prepares students for the MBA and DBA degrees of the Buren, Netherlands-based institution. Enrolment for the MBA has grown in Nigeria past the 1000-students mark. Nigeria graduated 83 students at the recent graduation ceremony at The Hague, with 22 scoring distinctions in various subjects and one overall best (Cum Laude) in the English-speaking world.

*Photo shows Lere Baale, left and other officials of BSN.