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Master of Business Research (MBSR) - MBusRes

CRICOS code (International applicants): 059566G

 On-campusExternal
Semester intake:Semester 1 (February)
Semester 2 (July)
Semester 1 (February)
Semester 2 (July)
Campus:Toowoomba -
Fees:Domestic full fee paying place
International full fee paying place
Research training scheme (RTS)
Domestic full fee paying place
International full fee paying place
Research training scheme (RTS)
Standard duration: 1.5 years full-time, up to 3 years part-time 

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Contact us

Future Australian and New Zealand students  Future International students  Current students 

Freecall (within Australia): 1800 269 500
Phone (from outside Australia): +61 7 4631 5315
Email: study@usq.edu.au  

Phone: +61 7 4631 5543
Email: international@usq.edu.au 

Freecall (within Australia): 1800 007 252
Phone (from outside Australia): +61 7 4631 2285
Email usq.support@usq.edu.au 

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Program aims

The Master of Business Research aims to produce graduates trained in business research either for academic or management purposes. This program also aims to provide students with opportunities to explore the resolution of particular management problems using specialist knowledge and advanced techniques through conducting research in a specialised area of business, management or information systems.

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Program objectives

On successful completion of this program students will be able to:

  • constantly evaluate developments in a chosen area of business examine and synthesise the relationship between such changes and contemporary theory

  • identify, critically assess and apply selected research paradigms in terms of theory and practice and their applicability for resolving contemporary business research problems

  • • undertake, interpret and evaluate management research using appropriate principles and techniques

  • analyse research data and reflect critically on the analysis.


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Admission requirements

Students for the Master of Business Research are required to have an appropriate degree in business, commerce or a related field from a recognised university. They must have obtained a minimum average of credit (GPA=5.0 on a 7.0 point scale) in their undergraduate degree or 5.5 or above for the second and third years of the degree.

Students who do not have an undergraduate degree in a business or commerce related field can enrol in the Graduate Certificate of Business . Students undertake 4 units of non-research coursework to gain cognate knowledge in their intended area of business research. Upon completion of the Graduate Certificate of Business and achieving a minimum GPA of 5.5, students are eligible to apply for entry to the Master of Business Research. Please note and are research courses within the Master of Business Research and are not suitable study options for the Graduate Certificate of Business pathway.

On application, students must be able to provide an outline of the research topic they intend to pursue.

Note: Admission to the Master of Business Research is dependent upon the Faculty's capacity to supervise the proposed project. Prospective students should contact the Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts for up-to-date information regarding research areas before preparing their project proposals.

All students are required to satisfy the applicable .

If you do not meet the English language requirements you may apply to study a ¾«¶«´«Ã½app-approved . On successful completion of the English language program, you may be admitted to an award program.

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Program fees

Domestic full fee paying place

Domestic full fee paying places are funded entirely through the full fees paid by the student. Full fees vary depending on the courses that are taken. You are able to calculate the fees for a particular course via the
Domestic full fee paying students may be eligible to defer their fees through a Government loan called provided they meet the residency and citizenship requirements.
Australian citizens, Permanent Humanitarian Visa holders, Permanent Resident visa holders and New Zealand citizens who will be resident outside Australia for the duration of their program pay full tuition fees and are not eligible for .

International full fee paying place

International students pay full fees. Full fees vary depending on the courses that are taken and whether they are studied on-campus, via distance education/online. You are able to calculate the fees for a particular course via the .

Research training scheme (RTS)

Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents and New Zealand citizens commencing a higher degree research program may have their tuition fees paid for by the Australian Federal Government under the Research Training Scheme (RTS). A RTS place entitles a student an exemption on tuition fees for a maximum period of 4 years full-time or 8 years part-time for a Doctorate program and 2 years full-time or 4 years part-time for a Masters by Research program. As part of the enrolment process students are required to submit proof of citizenship and transcripts of all previous academic study. It is with this documentation that USQ can determine a student's eligibility for a RTS place. Students who are eligible for RTS are:

  • those who have not consumed a RTS allocation previously;

  • those who have already utilised the RTS to successfully completed a research program. Once a student completes a higher degree research program full entitlements of the RTS are restored.


If a student's RTS entitlement expires before they have completed their program they will be required to pay full tuition fees for the remainder of the program. As there may be limited RTS places available, some students may be required to pay fees for all or part of their program. The Office of Research Graduate Studies will advise students of their eligibility for an RTS place.

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Program structure

The Master of Business Research is a 12-unit research program comprising 2 units of coursework and 10 units of thesis. Students must successfully complete the following courses:

Course  Semester of offer
Distance/Online 
Semester of offer
Toowoomba campus 
(1 unit)  1, 2  1, 2 
(1 unit)  1, 2  1, 2 
* (2 units)  1, 2  1, 2 
* (4 units)  1, 2  1, 2 
^ (1 unit)  1, 2  1, 2 

Footnotes
*Students will be required to re-enrol in the two thesis courses and multiple times to satisfy the normal program requirement of 10 units of thesis. See recommended enrolment patterns below.
^ is only available for students who have approval for extra time to complete their thesis or have approval to reduce their study load.

The thesis allows students to undertake in-depth, independent investigation in a chosen area of business. To successfully complete the thesis, students will be required to select a topic, develop a proposal, carry out supervised research on the topic using an appropriate research method and present the results in a thesis of no more than 40,000 words.

Student progress and achievement will be measured by student performance in the initial two research training courses and thereafter will be evidenced by their achievement of research milestones as documented by successful confirmation of candidature and ongoing assessment of research progression reported in progress reports.

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Required time limits

Students have a maximum of 3 years to complete this program.

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IT requirements

For information technology requirements please refer to the .

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Other program requirements

Students must maintain good standing in this program. Please refer to the .

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Exit points

A student who successfully completes , and a short research thesis of two units , may upon application, exit with the Graduate Certificate of Business Research (GCBR).

A student who successfully completes , and a research thesis of six units may upon application, exit with the Graduate Diploma of Business Research (GDBR).

A student enrolled in the Master of Business Research who wishes to exit without completing the program, may on the basis of outstanding performance seek to transfer to the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). To be considered for acceptance into the PhD, students will have:

  • completed at least eight units within the Master of Business Research

  • obtained an overall GPA of at least 6 averaged across , and

  • achieved confirmation of Master's candidature by the Office of Research and Higher Degrees.


Note: candidates will be required to meet the admission requirements of the PhD program and, if they are accepted, will be enrolled as provisional candidates with their status reviewed within 12 months for full-time enrolment or 24 months for part-time enrolment. Students may apply for credit in the PhD program based on the MBSR research dissertation units completed.

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Credit

Credit will not normally be granted for the Masters Thesis courses. Claims for credit for previous study should be submitted prior to or at the time of enrolment in a program. Each claim will be assessed on individual merit in line with USQ policy. Credit approved in this program will not automatically apply to other programs offered by USQ.

Recommended enrolment pattern

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Recommended enrolment pattern

Students are able to enrol in any offered mode of a course (on-campus, external or online), regardless of the program mode of study they enrolled in.

The flexibility of the Master of Business Research program means that there will be a range of enrolment patterns and many students will have a unique enrolment pattern. Students requiring assistance should contact the Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts. An example of a recommended enrolment pattern is set out in the table below.

Note: It is recommended that students complete all of and before commencing the Masters Thesis courses.

Full-time students will enrol once in (2 units) and twice in (4 units) in order to successfully complete 10 units of thesis.

Part-time students will enrol five times in (2 units) in order to successfully complete a total of 10 units of thesis.


CourseYear of program and semester
in which course is normally studied
Enrolment requirementsComments
On-campus
(ONC)
External
(EXT)
Online
(ONL)
YearSemYearSemYearSem
1 1 1 1 1 unit
1 1 1 1Co-requisite: 1 unit
* 1 1 12 Co-requisite: and 2 units
* 1 2 Co-requisite: and 4 units
* 2 1 Co-requisite: and 4 units
* 21 Co-requisite: and 2 units
* 22 Co-requisite: and 2 units
* 31 Co-requisite: and 2 units
* 32 Co-requisite: and 2 units

Footnotes
* For the thesis component of their studies, students should enrol in either or .