Global DBA in Data Science and AI

The Global Doctor of Business Administration in Data Science & Artificial Intelligence (DBA in DSAI) is run jointly by Rennes School of Business and the RSB Shanghai Executive Development and Teaching Center (SH-Ivy College and SH GAOSHI Education Group). The program focuses on the interdisciplinary research in the application of DSAI in different industries with business administration, aiming to cultivate business innovative leaders in the era of AI, to achieve the seamless integration of business administration and AI, and to produce highly valuable intelligent business innovation management ideas and research results.

Presentation

Through the study of the DBA in Data and AI, students will systematically study modules in research methodology, strategy and organizational behavior, as well as the specialised module in AI+ industry, and industry+ AI, to equip the students with new management tools, analytical skills, and innovative and critical thinking.

The Global DBA in DSAI will help students to achieve a comprehensive integration of management practice, academic research and industrial innovation through thinking collision and discussion with interdisciplinary professors and supervisors such as management disciplines, big data, artificial intelligence, and become thought leaders in their industries.

Mission

To cultivate intelligent business innovation leaders with the characteristics of “GLOCAL”.
Global Perspective
Leadership with Innovation
Organisations and Industry Study
Critical Thinking
Agile Intelligent Decision
Local Best Practice

Feature

GDBA of Rennes SB has been in China for 20 years, which is one of the earliest international DBA programs introduced to China.
Focusing on the hot research topics in AI+industry, as well as industry +AI.

Strong in teaching and research faculty:

- Main supervisor: Chinese professor from top business school
- Monitoring supervisor: French professors
- Professional supervisor: professors in the field of AI
Operations team with more than 15 years of experience in executive education

Programme

Part-time study form, system for three years(extended for 2 years is available).

This programme is worth 200 ECTs with 8 teaching modules entailing 200 teaching hours.

Year 1 — Academic Path

Semester 1

Pre DBA Courses (to those whose education background is not in computer science)

Foundations of Stats, ML and Optimization
Foundations of AI and ML

DBA Course

Module 1: Research Methodology and Process (Online)
Module 2: Qualitative and Mixed Research Methods
Module 3: Quantitative Methods and Data Analytics
Module 4: Advanced Optimization

Semester 2

Module 5: Digital Organization and Workforce
Module 6: Data Science & AI Applications-I
Module 6: Digital Strategy
Module 7: Research Development Workshop
Module 8: Data Science & AI Applications-II
Module 9: AI & ML Research Seminars

Year 2 & 3 — Research Path

Key deliverables

DBA Proposal Defence DBA
Thesis Writing with Periodical Reviews
Final Thesis Defence

Admission

Next intake:
September 2025

To be eligible you must have obtained a 1st division in your master’s level degree and have a minimum of 5 years of experience. Bachelor students(with at least one year of postgraduate study experience) with 10 years of experience may also apply.
Majors in Science and Engineering, such as computer science, data science and mathematics, Machine Learning etc. will be preferred.