Interview - Darren Imrie

Undergrad student testimonial

Video of an interview with Darren Imrie at the 2012 Student of the year awards. He won the Derek Pugh Award for Professional Certificate in Management Studies Student of the Year.

(Edited transcript of the interview)

I've worked in a pharmaceuticals company for about 18 years in information technology. I've always been very sort of technical and hands on. Recently been into project management which is why I thought a certificate in management studies would be very useful. We didn't have any formal training in project management, so projects are managed I thought, well, it's on the fly, so when the chance came up to do a certificate of management studies, I thought, yes. Let's do it. Hopefully we can put some theory behind the practice.

Why did you choose The Open University business school?

Well, actually, our company has been funding a number of people to do courses through The Open University so it was part and parcel of that initiative, but I've done courses before with The Open University and always found them very good, very challenging, so yes, I was delighted that it was with The Open University. So I decided to go for it.

What difference has your studies made to your daily work life?

Well, the difference it's made is, as I said, I'm a project manager, so it's actually put a lot of theory behind the practice that I do. For me the course was split into two. The first module was managing and managing people, and I found it very useful to pick up techniques on how to deal with conflict, how to problem solve, how to control change. So all of that was very useful. Second module was about finance and marketing, which I don't have a lot of experience in, so it was very useful to actually pick up knowledge about those areas and how to apply it in my day to day job.

How do you think your new qualification has affected your career prospects?

I think it's definitely a bonus. Unfortunately at the moment our company is going through restructuring and there's a number of job losses. Fortunately I'm keeping my job, but there's a number of new laws coming up, so I've been submitting my CV to a few internal vacancies and once or twice mentioned I've got a certificate in management studies and I won an award for it, so I think it will come in very useful.

An Open University qualification is often referred to as distance learning. Is that your experience? Is it really distance learning?

In terms of it being distance learning, I don't think so, no. The certificate of management studies is very hands on. You're encouraged all the time to go to the forums on The Open University. You're constantly interacting with other students. You also have sessions which you attend and meet the other students. So, no, I didn't find it distance learning too much. You're constantly emailing and chatting to people on the forums, so no. I thought it was very un-distance learning perhaps.

Do you have any plans for further study in the future?

Definitely, yeah. As I said, I've done quite a few courses with The Open University. I've always found them very challenging. There's a lot of work involved but if you keep on top of it, when you look back you think, that wasn't too bad after all. And to get a qualification at the end of it, it's been great.

Would you recommend studying with The Open University Business Schools to others?

Yes. Well, I've just actually finished a certificate in astromical studies a few weeks ago which I was doing for personal interest, but I do intend to do the diploma in management studies sometime next year. Again, I think my company's going to fund me to do that. If not I may fund it myself, and possibly do the MBA afterwards, but I'll have to decide with the commitment I can get the time to do it.