Leadership and Learning in Organizations Global – UAE

Bridge the divide between theory and practice while gaining the deep understanding and contextual experience needed to lead organizational change across industries.

Sheikh Zayed Bridge

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Program Overview

Vanderbilt Peabody College's acclaimed online doctorate in leadership and learning in organizations is now offered for those living in the United Arab Emirates. This doctor of education (Ed.D.) is best suited for mid-career professionals who hold at least three years of leadership experience and are inspired to drive positive systemic change.

Students will take two courses per term for nine consecutive terms (spring, summer, fall). Courses are designed to be approximately one-half in person (synchronous) and one-half self-study (asynchronous). Synchronous classes will meet every other weekend on Saturday AM (course one) and Sunday AM (course two). Class attendance is required for all students. National and religious holidays are considered in the schedule.

Students can receive optional student success support virtually. Local space in Abu Dhabi for students who might want to gather during synchronous class sessions may be available, depending on interest and demand.

Only residents of the UAE during the time of application are eligible for enrollment in this program. Students interested in completing studies at a university outside the United Arab Emirates can apply for the IFADA service. The service aims to provide applicants with an official document issued by the Ministry of Education confirming the Institution of Higher Education accreditation and academic program. Additionally, the service provides students with information on the criteria they must meet to have the certificate recognized in the UAE after graduation.

Program Guide and Application Checklist

Download our LLO-Global-UAE Program Guide for more information, including highlighted courses, faculty and more. Plus, use our application checklist to help guide you through the application process.

Program Facts

Program Director: Eve Rifkin, Ed.D.

Director of Student Success – UAE: Jenni Kincaid, Ed.D.

Admissions Coordinator: Susan Freeman Burns, Ed.D.

Admission Term: Fall 2024

Application Deadline and Application Fee: July 12. You will be charged a nonrefundable application fee of $150 at the time you submit your application.

Credit Hours: 54 credit hours (6 each term for 9 consecutive terms), in addition to 30 transfer hours from an accepted master’s degree or equivalent, for a total of 84 credit hours.

Terms: January-May, May-August and August-December

Cost: $18,000 per term, including all fees and student success support.

International Transcripts: International students with degrees from non-U.S. institutions who are admitted and who enroll at Vanderbilt are required to have their transcripts evaluated by an approved credentials evaluation agency and to have an official report sent by the agency to the Vanderbilt University’s Registrar’s Office. International Education Evaluation (IEE) is the preferred agency used by Peabody College. An evaluation is not required for the application but must be completed before the student can matriculate.

Program Curriculum

Through the 54-credit hour curriculum, students develop leadership skills and an in-depth understanding in the following areas:

  • Organizational change and systemic improvement
  • Different methods of inquiry and analysis
  • Issues of practice from a variety of perspectives
  • Impact of systems and practice on learning
  • Methods to address organizational challenges
  • Context-specific individual and organizational learning
  • Organizational improvement, practice and processes
  • Data analytics skills
  • Plan of Study

    The online Ed.D. in leadership and learning in organizations curriculum prepares students to identify, assess and resolve organizational challenges from a learning and design perspective. Students learn how to improve operations in the workplace while focusing on three key competency areas: 

    Leadership & Organizational Development

    Courses that help students develop strong leadership skills

    Sample Courses:

    • Leadership Theory and Practice
    • Organizational Theory and Behavior
    • Responsible Leadership

    Data and Analytics

    Courses that help students understand, evaluate, and utilize research data effectively

    Sample Courses:

    • Strategy and Analytics
    • Research Design
    • Applied Statistics

    Learning and Design

    Courses that help students understand learning theory and the design of learning for application in a variety of settings

    Sample Courses:

    • Psychological Perspectives of Learning
    • Learning and Design in Context
    • Learning and Design in Communities
  • Course Highlights

    LLO 8130:
    Organizational Theory and Behavior

    This course explores both traditional and contemporary organizational theories, and reviews applied research in organizational effectiveness. Emphasis is on the principles and practices of organizational restructuring, organizational development and planned changes, systems and processes, self-managed teams, and organizational learning. Experiential learning will reinforce systematic inquiry and applied organizational assessment and intervention skills. Includes analysis of the major issues—change, diversity, ethics, sustainability—that modern complex organizations face. 

    LLO 8140:
    Strategy and Analytics 
    This course is designed to help students develop the business acumen required of successful leaders across organizational settings. For this course, business acumen has two critical components. First is the strategic insight needed to understand what the organization is trying to accomplish and one’s role in helping it achieve those objectives. Second is a facility with the financial and non-financial data needed to monitor and evaluate progress toward those goals. Key outcomes are developing the business acumen needed to assess and design organizational strategies; create a budget for an organizational initiative or department; and construct meaningful metrics and use them to evaluate organizational progress. 

Capstone

This degree program does not require a dissertation. Rather, the capstone project is the culminating academic experience for students in the LLO-Global-UAE program. The capstone and its accompanying seminars will allow students to apply the analytic abilities, professional understanding, contextual knowledge and related skills they have accumulated throughout the program to a project for an external organization. The capstone project will be completed in two parts during students’ third year of study through two separate seminars.

Highlighted Faculty

Eve Rifkin

Eve Rifkin

Program Director, Senior Lecturer

Rifkin holds an Ed.D. in leadership and policy from Vanderbilt and is the co-founder of City High School in Tucson, AZ. Rifkin has over 25 years of experience in designing schools both nationally and globally; informing state-level policy; and supporting professional learning communities of both teachers and school leaders throughout the country.

Christine Quinn Trank

Christine Quinn Trank

Professor of the Practice of Organization Leadership

 

Quinn Trank received a Ph.D. in Business Administration from The University of Iowa, where she also worked in academic administration for several years. Former editor of multiple academic journals, Quinn Trank also serves on several editorial boards. As a professor, she has been recognized with both teaching and service awards. Her research concerns the institutional environment of organizations and occupations.

Faculty

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