Return to: Darden Graduate School of Business Administration: Courses
ADMINISTRATION OF THE PROGRAM
The administration of the Doctoral Program has been assigned by the Darden School faculty to the Doctoral Operating Committee (DOC), a standing committee of the faculty. Each major field of doctoral study established by the faculty has a major-field advisor who is a member of the DOC. The general administration of the doctoral program is the responsibility of the Doctoral Program Director.
BACKGROUND
Students admitted to the Doctoral Program will continue to demonstrate the following capabilities reflecting the admission criteria:
- Interest in, and capacity to learn, the craft of academic research, and potential to become a thought leader in their field of study.
- Ability to manage the workload and meet the rigorous demands of the program, including the ability to be mentored and to develop their own research portfolio over the course of the program.
- Ability to master a body of knowledge, formulate their own ideas on the forefront of research, and to work cooperatively with peers and faculty throughout the duration of the program.
- Commitment to the program, their peers, and to completing all the requirements of the Doctoral Program within the specified time frame.
- Master’s Degree in Business Administration or the equivalent.
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS AND PROGRAM STRUCTURE
The program’s structure requires students to satisfactorily complete the following:
- 48 hours of coursework
- 12 hours doctoral level major field courses
- 3 hours pedagogy
- 9 hours research methodology
- 24 hours other customized coursework
- Comprehensive examinations suitable to the field
- Twenty-four semester hours of doctoral research after successfully completing coursework and comprehensive exams
- A dissertation
Financial Assistance
Students admitted to the Doctoral Program may also be offered a range of financial support. Many of our admitted students receive a generous scholarship, a tuition waiver, and a stipend. Students who are offered assistance may receive such support for the duration of the program (e.g. typically five years), but such decisions will be reviewed on a year-to-year basis and depend on the students’ Satisfactory Progress within the program and availability of resources.
Residency Requirements
University requirements for the doctoral degree are two continuous academic semesters of full- time graduate study (or the equivalent) in residence toward the doctoral degree, not including previous semesters in residence at the University of Virginia for the purpose of obtaining another degree. Experience suggests, however, that a minimum two years of full-time work in residence is usually needed to complete the formal requirements of the degree.
Major field
A major field is defined in terms of a basic discipline or teaching area in business administration such as accounting, finance, marketing, or operations management.
The selection of a major field by a student is restricted to those established and currently offered by the faculty at the time of application and acceptance. Applicants must designate their major field (one only) when applying for admission to the Doctoral Program. Students are expected to remain within their major field during their period of study, though in rare cases they may apply to switch. Any such switch would have to be approved by the student, the faculty in the respective areas and the DOC.
With the advice and concurrence of the Doctoral Program Director, the major-field advisor will work with the student to develop a course-specific plan of study in their major field. Students should have an approved plan of study well in advance of each semester’s registration date to improve the likelihood that students can enroll in the classes that best contribute to their development as scholars.
Comprehensive Exams
These examinations are normally taken several weeks after the student’s second year of full-time coursework. The exams focus on a student’s knowledge and scholarly assessment of the relevant academic literature – which may include multiple areas of study (e.g. 2 exams, covering different topics). Each student is expected to demonstrate doctoral-level skills and knowledge concerning the field’s fundamental problems, theories, and conceptual frameworks, and should show a well- developed capacity for logical reasoning both orally and in writing. Students who fail the examination will have failed to meet the academic standards of the Doctoral Program and will be removed from the program, subject to the appeal rights below.
Dissertation Proposal
Each student is required to prepare a dissertation research proposal and to pass a proposal examination before conducting research and writing the dissertation. The purpose of the proposal and examination is to obtain assurance, from the viewpoint of both the faculty and the student, that the research project is appropriate, relevant, and demonstrates the scholarly mastery of the candidate.
Students are ordinarily expected to pass the initial dissertation research proposal examination within six months of completing their comprehensive exams. A student whose initial examination is not scheduled within 12 months, or who fails the examination twice, has failed to meet the academic standards of the Doctoral Program and will be removed from the program, subject to the appeal rights below.
Dissertation
Each student is required to present an acceptable dissertation based on an approved proposal. A reading committee, of which the dissertation supervisor is normally chair, will determine whether a dissertation is acceptable. The dissertation must contribute to knowledge in the field and constitute an original piece of research. Each student is expected to present a public oral defense of the dissertation as part of the requirements for the doctoral degree.
Classroom attendance
Doctoral level courses by design are small seminar style discussion-based classes. This requires the active participation of all students and therefore regular attendance is not only expected, but vital to the education of the student and their peers. As such, it is required that students should attend all classes, that absences should be extremely rare and have good reasons for the student missing class, and that any (unexcused) absences would count substantially against a students’ grade (unless the faculty member sets forth differently in their course’s syllabus). Participation is normally a substantial part of a student’s final grade, though individual faculty may establish policies for their courses reflecting the value of participation.
Annual reviews
Students will be reviewed annually to ensure they are making Satisfactory Progress in the program and to provide developmental feedback (especially in the first two years).
Annual paper: Students may be required to submit a paper at the end of the first and second year of the program. This is meant to provide an opportunity for the student to demonstrate their progress and to help the faculty assess the student’s progress and ability to successfully complete their degree.
Credit hour requirements for the dual MBA/PhD degree
A student can earn both an MBA and PhD by completing 79.5 credit hours as noted below. All other elements of the program structure noted above must be met.
- FY MBA courses 30 hours
- Electives, including 1.5 hours in Leadership 22.5 hours
- FY and SY summer research assistant
- Doctoral level major-field courses 12 hours
- Pedagogy 3 hours
- Research methodology 9 hours
ACADEMIC STANDARDS
Satisfactory Progress
In order to maintain Satisfactory Progress and remain in good academic standing, students must earn a grade of SP/B in a Darden course, and at least the minimum grade acceptable for credit toward a graduate degree in the schools at which non-Darden courses are taken to be counted toward completion of the degree. Any student whose grades in 3 or more courses do not meet these requirements is not considered to be making Satisfactory Progress in the program. Unsatisfactory Progress will result in the student being removed from the program, subject to the appeal rights below.
Failure to maintain Academic standing; Appeal Rights
Failure of a student to meet any of the academic standards of the Doctoral Program set forth herein will result in the termination of the student’s enrollment in the program. A student who is terminated from the program may submit a petition for readmissions. The DOC is authorized to act on behalf of the faculty in receiving and acting on petitions for readmission. In acting on these requests, the committee may establish such requirements and conditions for readmission as it considers appropriate. If such petition is denied, the Student may appeal decisions to the Darden School faculty. The decision of the Darden School faculty is final.
TIME TO COMPLETE THE PROGRAM AND STATUS
The program is designed to be completed in five years (or 60 months.) Financial support is expected to be available during this timeframe if a student makes Satisfactory Progress and remains in good academic standing. Students need to petition the DOC and gain their approval to take longer than 60 months to complete their degree. The maximum time allowed to complete the program is set by UVA GSAS policy.
Expected timing
- Coursework – two years.
- Comprehensive exams – two to three months after coursework is completed.
- Dissertation program and defense – one year after completing comprehensive exams. If this timing is not met, the student needs to apply to remain in the program.
- Dissertation – complete and defend within two years.
Continued enrollment
Students may petition the DOC for a 6th year (and possibly funding). Such applications will depend on the student being in good academic standing, the merit of their requests, the availability of funding, and the evidence provided that the student can complete their degree by the end of the 6th year.
Doctoral completion and Affiliated Status
A student may petition the DOC for Affiliated Status if they have successfully completed their coursework and comprehensive exams, is in good academic standings and has the support of their advisor and the Doctoral Program Director. This status may be used for up to four consecutive semesters. Once approved for Doctoral Completion status, a student cannot return to full-time study in the doctoral program.
Affiliated Status allows students to remain affiliated with UVA and retain Net Badge computer system privileges. Students with Affiliated Status cannot access student services including student health or student health insurance and are not eligible for graduate assistantships. Students with outstanding federal student loans will no longer be in deferment and will begin repayment once the grace period has ended. Students should contact Student Financial Services before petitioning for Affiliated Status if they have questions related to their particular loans. Students on Affiliated Status pay an associated fee rather than tuition or comprehensive fees.
Extended enrollment
In the rare case that a student does not finish the program within 6 years, a student can petition the DOC to continue to work on their dissertation outside the formal structure of the program (and the University).
Such students will have no formal association with Darden/UVA, nor will they be enrolled, receive health or other benefits, or have other forms of support from the school. Students who qualify for and receive endorsement from the DOC to use this policy will have up to 6 semesters (not including summer) or the total time allowed for completion per UVA GSAS policy, whichever is shorter, to continue their work. Failure to complete their work within those 6 semesters will result in permanent removal from the Doctoral Program and inability to reapply to complete their degree.
DISSERTATION (READING) COMMITTEE NORMS
Dissertation committees are expected to adhere to best practices and have a minimum of three faculty members, preferably a total of four. Of these, at least two should be Darden faculty members and have one faculty member external to Darden. The chair is expected to be a Darden faculty member.
ADVISOR/MENTOR
Students are assigned an advisor/mentor plus a co-mentor. This fosters Darden’s apprenticeship model of learning. The purpose of formally pairing a student with a faculty member are to
- Provide guidance about professional development to become a successful research academic.
- Mentor the student in developing the ability to conduct rigorous academic research, developing original ideas into completed work. Students are expected to work with faculty on their research projects.
EXCLUSION FROM CLASSES
A student who whose behavior is violating the standards of the University, may be excluded from that class by the Doctoral Program Director with a grade of W or F. Students have five calendar days following written notification of this exclusion in which to appeal to the DOC. Until the final disposition of the appeal, the student is considered enrolled in the class.
WITHDRAWAL
A grade of W (withdrawal) will be entered for each course in which the student was registered. A grade of W cannot be changed.
Tuition is charged according to the portion of the term elapsed before the effective date of the enforced withdrawal, and financial support allocated to the student for the remainder of the term is forfeited.
Readmission after required withdrawal is not permitted.
LEAVE OF ABSENCE
A student may request a leave of absence (LOA) by submitting a request to the Doctoral Program Director. Requests are evaluated by the Director and the DOC.
To be considered for a LOA a student must:
- Be in good academic standing
- Have a compelling reason for requesting the LOA (e.g. Health problems, death in the family, extenuating life circumstances)
- Have a clear intention of returning to the program within a specified time-period that both the student and the committee feels is appropriate for their successful completion of the program.
Once a student is on a LOA, they can seek readmission to the program. The DOC will evaluate this request and determine readmission status.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY NORMS OF THE DARDEN SCHOOL
The Darden School maintains important norms regarding the academic integrity of the work that students submit for academic evaluation. In particular, students are expected to refrain from any of thefollowing actions:
- Receiving advanced knowledge of the contents of an exam or assignment that is not expected by the instructor and is available to others.
- Using unauthorized materials in the completion of work.
- Copying from or collaborating inappropriately with a fellow student.
- Representing someone else’s ideas or work as your own original ideas or work (plagiarism). Plagiarism includes using material from a website, article, book, artificial intelligence engine or other source either verbatim or by paraphrasing without explicitly citing the referenced source.
- Falsifying data or falsifying any referenced sources.
- Abetting a fellow student with any of the above actions.
Student work that is suspected of violating any of these academic integrity norms may result in a severe grade reduction at the discretion of the faculty member and in reporting to the Honor Committee through the University Honor channels.
STUDENT CONDUCT
Darden students are required to follow the University Standards of Conduct to abide by the obligations of the Honor System; to comply with policies that fall under UVA’s Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights (EOCR); meet the standards of the Darden School for scholastic achievement; and to perform in a manner that is consistent with the administrative and academic good order and educational processes of both the individual courses and the Darden School in general. This latter requirement is important in a learning experience that encourages responsible competition and cooperation. Disruption of the learning experience can deprive others of the educational benefits for which they came to the Darden School. If a student is found in violation of UVA’s standards of conduct, Honor System or EOCR’s policies sanctions may be imposed. This could include dismissal from the program.
