COMP Grading Rubric

The following scoring rubric will be applied to the Exam.
• Pass – Candidates scoring above 80/100, the equivalent of a B- grade
Once passed, a student is in candidacy status: Transcript is annotated as follows: DOCTORAL COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION PASSED [date of candidacy]
• Fail – Candidates scoring below 80/100, fail the exam but may retake it in the next session. On the second failure of the comprehensive examination, the Academic DirectorClick Here will notify the CAO to authorize a third try.
Doctoral students are allowed to take the Comprehensive exam three times, a third failed examination will annotate the transcript as follows: DOCTORAL COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION FAILED [date of third failure]

4. DBA Dissertation Committee

When students successfully complete all core courses, they will be assigned a dissertation chair/mentor and a Committee to oversee the entire process. Similar to an Advisory Committee, this committee will comprise at least three faculty members with appropriate terminal degrees.

Students may request substitutions or additions to this committee, which must be approved by the CAO and program director. Students work closely with their dissertation committee members through the remainder of their doctoral program.

Doctoral Candidates have the opportunity to nominate one member of the dissertation committee for regular interaction. Selection of a nominee is solely at the discretion of the IUL administration. The University will provide compensation to the local faculty members directly: the student will not bear any additional financial burden for his/her services.

5. Dissertation Proposal Form Click Here

6. IRB – Human Subjects Research Review and Approval Committee

The University is responsible for the rights and welfare of human subjects involved in scholarly research. The Human Participants Committee are responsible and bound by Federal and state regulations mandate that research involving human participants must be reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board. The Committee is responsible for providing guidance and oversight for the human participant protection program during the implementation of the IRB and for helping to maintain compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies during doctoral research.

A dissertation is automatically considered to be adding to generalizable knowledge because the University intends to disseminate its contents for the use of others. Therefore, students completing a doctoral dissertation that involve the use of human subjects must submit an IRB application for review and approval. If a student’s doctoral project meets the federal definition of research and involves human subjects as defined by federal guidelines, a review is needed.

The entire scope of activities and policies related to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) may be found in the IRB Policies Manual Click here.

Prior to the initiation of any human research activity, candidates are required to submit an IRB protocol application:  Click here, and the IRB committee will review and decide based on its published process.  Once the application is reviewed and approved, the student moves on to the Research phase.

7. DBA Dissertation Manual Click Here

8. Publication

After the dissertation is approved by the Dissertation Committee, the student must arrange one soft copy to be provided to the publishing website of IUL at http://iulpress.org. IUL will work closely with students to possibly gain publication of the main work in a peer-reviewed, scholarly or other journal or publication of a book, as appropriate.