This university is set to offer a combined PhD-MBA
Anthony Skeats is permanently on the lookout for brilliant minds with knowledge finely honed through the rigours of a PhD who can also understand the business and commercial landscape in which they operate.
The two skill sets do not come along together very often, so the chief engineer of the Adelaide-based high-tech, X-ray imaging company Micro-X says he is delighted that one of the local universities from which he recruits many of his staff will offer a joint PhD-MBA program from next year.
A joint PhD-MBA program will provide deep knowledge alongside commercial skills, says Carla Dias Wadewitz.
“PhD graduates tend to be very thorough, very smart, very focused and deliver some great outcomes but they usually don’t have the context to think around business and commercial acumen,” Mr Skeats said.
“If they get that additional business knowledge that makes them far more powerful.”
In an Australian first, Flinders University from next year will offer a compressed doctoral program in tandem with an accelerated masters of business administration.
“We know from talking to employers that PhD graduates are brilliant in their research field, but they often lack business-relevant abilities, including presentation, negotiation and leadership skills,” said Carla Dias Wadewitz, a co-lead of the new program.
“It’s giving them skills that are not only useful inside a lab, so they understand human resources, finance and leadership.”
Some leading lights overseas, including Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Dartmouth and the National University of Singapore, have been offering joint programs for several years.
When Florian Loebermann collected his PhD from Munich’s Ludwig-Maximilians Universitat in organic chemistry, he also walked out the door with an MBA.
“I wanted something broader. In science, you focus on being exact or 100 per cent right in your research. But in business you develop a different mindset to think in new concepts and use entrepreneurial skills to find a way that’s good enough to bring a product to market,” said Dr Loebermann, now a partner in the 250 million euro Green European Tech Fund, a venture capital fund for sustainable climate technologies.
“Unfortunately, my university didn’t offer a combined PhD and MBA program. It is a real effort to identify an MBA that was compatible with my PhD studies and completing it involved a lot of back and forth.”
“Connecting science and technology to market and business opportunities is what really excites me – and it’s a lot of fun. I wouldn’t have found this career path without an MBA,” he adds.
His interest in “transformative technologies” and “sustainable prosperity” also led him to support Sonnen, a residential battery storage company also operating in Australia.
Under the Flinders model, students can undertake a PhD in any area of their choosing which takes around three years to complete if studying full-time. Students will undertake one MBA subject a year for the first three years and then complete the final nine subjects in the fourth year.
The combined degree will have an innovative pricing structure that is based on individual student needs.
“The cost of the PhD-MBA will be calculated relative to the student circumstances, depending on a range of factors such as the course it’s aligned with, the mode, as well as eligibility for FEE-HELP and scholarships,” a Flinders University spokeswoman said.
“Many Australian students are eligible to receive a scholarship during their PhD that covers both their living cost and university fees for their doctorate, while fees for the MBA may be eligible for FEE-HELP support, scholarships or can be covered by the student.
“So, there’s no single fee as such. Perhaps best described as bespoke.”
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