The University of Cambridge has proposed a new business program that will cost students £80,000 in the first year, with a total cost of £230,000 ($332,000), making it one of the world’s most expensive degrees in the world.

The new four-year course is a doctorate of business to be launched in October 2017. It is aimed at the ‘most senior leaders around the world’ and is anticipated to attract small classes of ‘one to two’ students each year.

‘The degree will meet an evident demand from highly placed senior executives in business, NGOs, charities, and similar organizations, who are accomplished leaders who have built or run major companies and organizations,’ says the general board’s proposal.

The ‘Doctor of Business Degree’ will be comparable to a PhD program; students will be required to submit a dissertation that is a maximum of 200 pages long. The degree is still subject to approval by the university’s governing Regent House on 24 May.

The program will cost £80,000 ($117,000) in the first year and £50,000 ($73,000) a year in the subsequent three years. However, the tuition fee does not include accommodation and food. During the first year students will be resident in Cambridge for the whole year, but in years two to four they will be required to be resident for just four weeks a year.

The proposal was submitted by Cambridge’s Judge Business School and backed by the university’s general board education committee, Times Higher Education reported.

According to details of the plan given by the general board in the university’s official journal, the Reporter, the doctor of business degree, known as the Bus.D., is consistent with Cambridge Judge Business School’s long-term strategy and with the university’s research impact objectives.

However the tuition fee for the course has received criticism from some at Cambridge. Gill Evans, professor emeritus of medieval theology at Cambridge asked 'where is the intellectual justification for this departure into new doctoral territory?’

When the course launches, it will be one of the most expensive degrees in the world. For comparison, The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school two-year executive MBA, previously named most expensive course in the world, costs £133,624 ($192,900).