The 6,000-mile doctorate: my first year in the Durham DBA

The time difference, studying in lockdown and balancing commitments, Asrif Yusoff talks about the challenges and rewards that come with being a Durham DBA candidate.

Around this time last year, I wrote a post on the Durham University blog about my intention to document my experience of the Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) programme. The plan was to share my progress every other month as a reference for prospective students. Today, 12 months later, that piece remains my only post on the blog.

Admittedly, I have underestimated the challenge and rigour of the DBA. Don’t get me wrong, I was in no way overly confident of my learning aptitude. I just did not expect the year to fly by as fast as it did. After all, I was just at home under a never-ending Covid-19 lockdown. I guess time does fly when you’re having fun.

The DBA is delivered over four to six years as a part-time programme for aspiring leaders from around the world. In Years 1 and 2, students undertake five taught modules – namely Leadership in Organisations, Ecology of Organisations, Marketing Theory & Practice, Power, Control & Resistance in Organisations and Research Design. Years 3 to 6 are supervised research.

For each of the taught modules, students are scheduled to attend residential sessions on campus for lectures, supervisory meetings and networking with peers and faculty. This was the part I was looking forward to, because during residentials I’d unplug from work to fully immerse myself fully in engaging with the classroom and enjoying the beauty of Durham.

In the year that has been, however, because of Covid-19 travel restrictions I couldn't leave my front gate let alone the airport. Our residential sessions were instead brought online and thanks to the DBA team the experience has been nothing short of wonderful. I’ve gained knowledge, made friends and mastered the art of unmuting myself. Learning 6,000 miles away, in Kuala Lumpur, is, just as it sounds, not without its challenges. Thanks to the time difference, classes were held between 9pm and 2am local time. You could say that I have it slightly better than my classmate in California, who was tuning in at 5am. I owe it to the English Premier League for being attuned to staying up in the wee hours.

Our first module, Leadership in Organisations, was one that truly resonated with me. As a learning and development practitioner, this subject has opened my eyes to the world of adult education research. Diving deep into the literature made me realise how I’ve only scratched the surface all this time. The experience has also been an opportunity for me to put theory into practice.

In my current role, I work with a group of instructional designers to develop corporate training programmes. One of our biggest challenges is evaluating outcomes. The framework for ‘transfer of learning’ that I’ve picked up on the module has been highly relevant to the work that we do. Even the conversations that we have at work are becoming richer.

The second module was Ecology of Organisations, which certainly took me out of my comfort zone. The focus of the subject is the longevity of organisations' survival within the ‘ecosystems’ in which they exist – not an idea that I am used to, but the complexity of the literature certainly pushed my thinking. Surprisingly, I did reasonably well in the assignment.

The past year also exposed me to the need to formulate my research proposal. This includes developing problem statements and questions, conducting literature reviews and deciding on the appropriate methods. I am on my third draft of the research proposal now, and I am confident that there will be many more until I get it right.

I owe my progress to the patience and perseverance of my supervisor in entertaining the barrage of questions that I throw at her. Academic writing is a skill that I struggle with, even after two postgraduate programmes. It is one of those things that you can never be fully ready for – like bungee jumping. (Some might even prefer bungee jumping, for that matter.)

In summary, I would describe my first year on the Durham DBA as ‘enriching’. I’ve managed to validate my understanding of what I think I know, and more importantly I am clearer on the skills gaps that I have when it comes to conducting research. As the old saying goes – the more you know, the more you don’t know.

My hope for Year 2 is firstly for a safer world, so that I can attend campus sessions. As much as it’s appealing to tell my children how I’ve earned a doctorate from half a world away, I very much want to be in Durham. Even if I have to study from a distance, there’s still Years 3 – 6 to return to campus. Let’s hope it’s not actually Year 6!

For more information on the DBA programmes offered by Durham, visit durham.ac.uk/dba

This article is taken from issue 10 of Durham University Business School's IMPACT magazine. www.durham.ac.uk/business/impact