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Durham DBA at Fudan
Shanghai skyline

DBA Fudan Programme Structure 

You will complete seven taught core modules, two taught elective modules (choosing either a finance or management route), and a Doctoral Thesis of up to 60,000 words. 

Year

Modules

Module Title

Hours

Credits

Level

Location

Dates

Year 1

CORE Module 1

Practicing Business Research

32

15

4

Fudan

4-6 December 2026

Year 1

CORE Module 2

Strategic Visioning, Leadership, and Change Management

24

15

4

Durham

17-19 March 2027

Year 1

CORE Module 3

Understanding the Chinese Economy

24

15

4

Fudan

18-20 June 2027

Year 1

CORE Module 4

Doing Business in China

24

15

4

Fudan

10-12 September 2027

Year 2

CORE Module 5

Global Corporate Strategy

24

15

4

Fudan

10-12 December 2027

Year 2

ELECTIVE Module 1

Finance: Global Financial Markets and Institutions / Management: Applied Behaviour Analysis

24

15

4

Durham

15-17 March 2028

Year 2

CORE Module 6

Design Thinking for Innovation (5 days)

24

15

4

TBC

17-19 May 2028

Year 2

ELECTIVE Module 2

Finance: Financial Data Analysis and Econometrics Methods (4 days) / Management: Advanced Business Data Analysis and Consultancy (4 days)

32

15

4

Durham

23-25 August 2028

Year 2

CORE Module 7

Theory into Practice

24

60

4

Durham & London

12-14 September 2028

Years
3–6

CORE Doctoral Thesis

Doctoral Thesis (maximum 60,000 words)

 

360

5

Online

 

 

The standard duration of the DBA at Fudan is six years, although students will be able to submit at any point after four and a half years, subject to concession. 

Doctoral Thesis 

On successful completion of taught modules you will then progress to a programme of supervised, independent, research. Your Doctoral Thesis will be no more than 60,000 words and will demonstrate both your academic knowledge and professional business experience. 

You will have a personal first academic supervisor allocated before you start your second elective module, and then a full supervisory team will be appointed at the start of your Theory into Practice Module. Your supervisors will give you support and guidance throughout your Doctoral Thesis. 

You will be in regular contact with your supervisors, this can be by email or video/tele-conferencing, and through this you will have contacts with academic research communities based at Durham and Fudan. You will be required to present regularly on your progress to an audience of faculty members and student peers. 

As well as supervision you will attend two-day blocks twice a year for research visits integrated with other doctoral training programmes either at Fudan or Durham. These visits will include focussed methods training such as Research Data Analysis Refresher Training, Research Seminars and Writing Workshop Refresher Training is organised to underpin your learning. There will also be presentation by guest speakers and research supervision. 

Locations 

The DBA at Fudan is primarily delivered at the School of Economics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. 

In addition, some modules will be delivered in Durham University Business School (UK) London, and international locations tbc.