ABOUT THE PROGRAMME

Postgraduate university doctoral programme – Business Economics in Digital Environment
Programme organized by: Department of Economics and Business Economics of the University of Dubrovnik, and Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Zagreb
Duration of the programme: 3 years (6 semesters)
Degree awarded upon completion: Doctor of Social Sciences, field of Economics (PhD)
Place where the programme is carried out: University of Dubrovnik
Language of the programme: Croatian and English

WHY CHOOSE THIS PROGRAMME?

One of the fundamental characteristics of the world today is a comprehensive digital transformation process, which encompasses all aspects of our social life. The digital transformation will impact all economic sectors and will determine the growth and development potential of the world economies. According to the World Economic Forum, 30% of the jobs existing in 2020 have come about in the last five years. Until 2023, 60% of new jobs will require a skillset that today only approximately 20% of the population have. Building competitiveness in the digital economy requires developing new theories and models that will take into account these structural changes. Also, it requires an accumulation of knowledge and skills that are needed to shape the economic policies and business in the digital environment.
As the first of its kind in the Republic of Croatia, the postgraduate university (doctoral) programme of Business Economics in Digital Environment takes this fact as its guiding principle. It aims at providing its students with the knowledge and skillset that will make them competitive in the digital economy. The programme is comprised of several thematically related modules dealing with topics of key importance for business economics. However, as opposed to the existing programmes bearing the same name, the focus of this programme is on the digital transformation as the central topic for the business economics of the future.

FOR WHOM IS THIS PROGRAMME INTENDED?

• For entrepreneurs and managers from the current business enterprises who see in the digital transformation their chance for business success and for increasing their competitiveness, both on the domestic and on the international market
• For young scientists from other scientific research institutions whose research interests lie in the field of Business Economics in Digital Environment
• For students who are interested in the sector, regional, national and international determinants of the growth and development of enterprises, i.e., for those who are interested in the opportunities of managing economic flows in the digital economy

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF GRADUATING FROM THIS PROGRAMME?

The skills acquired by attending this programme will enable students from the business sector to gain an understanding of the digital business environment, to recognize business niches and launch new business endeavours as well as to adjust and optimize business operations to the new conditions. This programme enables students to gain knowledge that fosters innovative methods of valorising cultural and historical heritage, of destination management and of building new sustainable tourism concepts in the digital environment. In participating in the programme’s activities, students will gain knowledge about the opportunities and risks of doing business in the digital economy on the international market. This will bring about the boosting of their international competitiveness and integration into international value add chains. A high-quality human capital with competitive knowledge is an important factor when it comes to attracting foreign investors. The benefits achieved through the influx of investments are visible in the increase in productivity, export competitiveness and innovations of the economy as a whole, and can therefore be viewed as indirect benefits of this programme. The programme thus offers knowledge that can be implemented in building national and international competitiveness of business enterprises in all sectors of the economy as well as knowledge necessary for building competitiveness and destination management.
Specific knowledge that students will acquire by attending and completing the proposed programme includes:
• An advanced level of the knowledge of economic laws and analytic framework necessary for conducting research in the area of business economics;
• Understanding of internal business processes and decision-making at the business enterprises’ level;
• Understanding and analysis of the impact of local, regional, national and international business environment to an organization;
• Knowledge applicable in the shaping of economic policies at the local, regional and national level;
• Recognizing business opportunities and making optimal business decisions in the conditions of the digital economy.

PROGRAMME STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION

The programme consists of five modules
• Digital Business
• Tourism
• Marketing
• Management
• International Business
Lectures will be given in Croatian and English. All offered modules are interlinked and students are able to actively participate in the shaping of their own academic programme. Lectures are planned to take place in the afternoon and on weekends in order to enable an active participation by the attendees.
The duration of the postgraduate doctoral study of Business Economics is three years. During this period, students are obliged to take classes, pass the required exams, attend compulsory seminars and workshops and submit the topic of their thesis and write their doctoral thesis. The first three semesters of the programme are reserved for taking courses and passing exams and attending compulsory seminars and workshops as well as submitting the topic of their doctoral thesis. The last three semesters are foreseen for the writing of their doctoral thesis.
During the first semester, students must take four joint compulsory courses within which they will obtain the required knowledge in advanced microeconomics and macroeconomics and will master the key analytic methods in business economics, primarily econometric techniques. In the first semester, students are also obliged to attend the workshop Methodology of Doctoral Thesis Research Topic Development as well as the workshop Plagiarism and Ethics in Research.
In the second semester, students choose the module of their research and are obliged to take two compulsory courses and three elective courses from the elective courses group of their chosen module. During the second semester, students are obliged to have scientific training by writing a scientific paper (independently or in co-authorship with their mentor), which they will present at a scientific conference.
During the third semester, students choose two elective courses from the list of elective courses of all modules. In this semester, students are obliged to finish the paper that they presented at the conference in the second semester and submit it for publication in a journal indexed in Scopus or in the Web of Science. By the end of the third semester, students are obliged to do the workshop at which they will defend the topic of their doctoral thesis.

ENROLMENT

The selection of candidates is made by assessing whether they have the required knowledge and qualifications as defined by the documentation for the public call and based on an interview with the candidates conducted by the Programme Committee. The call for enrolment in the doctoral programme is published at least one month before the lectures begin. Below are the evaluation criteria for the selection of candidates:
• Previous academic success
• Previous scientific achievements and published scientific and expert papers
• Letter of recommendation
• Applicant’s motivation
• Brief presentation of the research containing research interests and possible directions of the research
• Interview with the candidate

The right to be enrolled in the postgraduate doctoral programme of Business Economics in Digital Environment shall have the candidates who*:
• Graduated from a four-year undergraduate university study programme in social sciences, field of economics or business economics, with an average study grade that must not be lower than 3.5 and who acquired a university degree upon the completion of their study
• Graduated from a graduate university study programme in social sciences, or an integrated undergraduate and graduate university study programme in economics or business economics, with an average study grade that must not be lower than 3.5 and who, upon the completion of their study, acquired at least 300 ECTS credits
• Graduated from a four-year undergraduate university study programme in social sciences, field of economics or business economics, with an average study grade lower than 3.5 and who acquired a university degree upon the completion of their study. These candidates need to enclose to their application two letters of recommendation from professors whose courses they attended and passed at lower study levels
• Graduated from a graduate university study programme in social sciences, or from an integrated undergraduate and graduate university study programme in the field of economics or business economics, with an average study grade lower than 3.5 and who, upon the completion of their study, acquired at least 300 ECTS credits. These candidates need to enclose to their application two letters of recommendation from professors whose courses they attended and passed at lower study levels
• Graduated from a four-year undergraduate university study programme or graduate university study programme (integrated) in other fields of social sciences and in the fields of technical and natural sciences with an average study grade that must not be lower than 3.5 and who, upon the completion of their study, acquired at least 300 ETCS credits**
*Attendants of the doctoral programme who graduated from a postgraduate scientific study programme (pre-Bologna) or from a postgraduate specialist study programme (Bologna) in the field of social sciences may request the recognition of a part of the ECTS credits they acquired within the postgraduate study programme they completed. Based on reviewing individual cases, the Programme Committee will decide on the number of credits to be recognized and, consequently, on an exemption from a part of the obligations of this postgraduate doctoral programme.
**Enrolment of the candidates from this group will be enabled under the condition that they pass differential courses that are delivered on the undergraduate, i.e., graduate study programmes of Business Economics at the University of Dubrovnik. The Programme Committee will pass the decision on the number of differential courses upon reviewing each individual application for enrolment.

LIST OF COMPULSORY AND ELECTIVE COURSESWITH THE NUMBER OF TEACHING HOURS REQUIRED FOR THEIR EXECUTION AND THE RESPECTIVE NUMBER OF ECTS CREDITS

LIST OF COMPULSORY COURSES

DIGITAL BUSINESS

list of compulsory and elective courses of the module

TOURISM

list of compulsory and elective courses of the module

MARKETING

list of compulsory and elective courses of the module

MANAGEMENT

list of compulsory and elective courses of the module

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

list of compulsory and elective courses of the module

CONTACT

University of Dubrovnik

Department of Economics and Business Economics
Lapadska obala 7
20,000 Dubrovnik

Email:
phd.epe@unidu.hr