The student population on a DBA course is often highly diverse, in both professional and cultural backgrounds. The DBA is often by design and intention a highly international degree and students value the diversity the DBA environment offers them. It is not surprising then to find students from across the globe with considerable international experience, either through study or work assignments, fulfilling their ambitions through a DBA programme. Martin Prater represents this truly internationally oriented management student type fully.

Born in Sheffield, UK, Martin has completed a Swiss Federal Diploma in Computer Science, has obtained his Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Hagen, Germany, further completed a post-graduate certificate in advanced business research at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia and attained his DBA from SMC University in Switzerland. Various work-related assignments in Switzerland, the US, Asia and the UK have enhanced and complemented his already-international background considerably.

Martin Prater’s choice of institution for the DBA was primarily based on location and the institutional reputation and experience with this relatively new type of doctoral programme. With a strong interest in professional research, Martin found the SMC model very suitable to his needs, providing him with research methodologies and opportunities to conduct his own research in a specialized field. The programme is tailored specifically to individuals at a high corporate level who aim to ˜acquire an extensive academic and industry related exposure”. The part-time course Martin had chosen is administered by the SMC through distance learning modules and provides a more practical approach in comparison to a PhD, yet offers all the academic research tools needed for him to further develop his special interest topic Business Activity Monitoring (BAM). Excellent interactions and support from advisors and professors has helped Martin achieve his goal and he has particularly benefited from the specialisation the DBA has added to his skill sets as he explains: ˜In the specialization phases I have studied topics in depth that were not covered in the MBA course”.

His thesis focuses on this specialty area and centres around the development of best practices for BAM for financial services company. The topic has shaped from a real-life problem in Martin’s experience with Business Process Management and BAM in his employment at Credit Suisse and his increasing awareness of how little guidance is available when introducing such technologies at an early maturity stage. Even though Martin had initially hoped to complete the DBA in less time, he had to accept that it took him just shy of four years. Balancing the demands of a high profile job and a research degree remains challenging, even for experienced and flexible students like Martin who has had previous experience with balancing work and study.

As a worldly professional and student, Martin has enjoyed the excitement of the opportunity to conduct his own research and make an original contribution to a field that is close to his experience and interests. As he explains, the DBA is still the lesser known and understood among the management qualifications and employer support may not come as readily as it does for the better known MBA degree, however, now that Martin has successfully completed his studies, he can provides some reliable advice for all prospective DBA students: