Ben Gilligan

MBA student testimonial

I work for the bus division of FirstGroup PLC and have done so for the last 8 years. I joined the company as a Senior Management Trainee and in 2006. I, along with a number of my colleagues who had joined the company’s training scheme, was given the opportunity to study for an MBA with The Open University. This was part of a wider programme of personal development for people at all levels of the business.

In the early days, I really did not know what I was letting myself in for. I knew what an MBA was, but had no idea as to how it would impact on my life. At the time that I started studying for the Certificate in Management I had just been promoted to the role of Operations Director for our subsidiary in Aberdeen and had no idea how much time studying would take. It was certainly a good access point as it fitted in well with the new challenges of working at a strategic level in the business.

Looking back over the last four years of study there have certainly been some highs and lows. Whilst I have found each of the MBA’s modules to be very accessible, there have been times when my workload has been very intense yet the deadlines for TMAs have also had to compete with this. This has been very testing for my long-suffering partner, Jennifer, who has coped admirably with lost evenings in front of the TV whilst I complete yet another TMA and Saturdays lost to Day Schools. We have survived though as the flexibility of studying has allowed me to work round her shifts in the hospital.

The high points have far outweighed anything else though. One of the best things about the MBA is that you have exposure to a very broad range of fellow students and highly experienced tutors. I have been fortunate in that I have become more understanding of the vagaries of life in the public sector and the Forces, something that I would never have had if I had not done the MBA. It is also welcoming to study under the director of tutors who are grounded in reality as many of them work or have recently worked in life outside of academia.

The MBA has impacted on my life in many ways. Whilst I would undoubtedly have developed my management skills through experience, I genuinely believe that I have been encouraged to try out new approaches as a result of the MBA. One such example is creative problem solving where I have used some of the techniques in B822, Creativity Innovation and Change to bring about performance improvements.

Having received the good news that I had passed my final module, I can look back over the last four years with the conclusion that I have definitely enjoyed the courses and feel like I have benefited from them immensely. During these tough economic times, I believe that it is a valuable tool in the jobs market but more importantly it has given me the opportunity to repay my debt to the company for funding me through the course.