Kindness is repaid with our Future Leader Fund scholarship

Thanks to the generosity of our alumni, OUBS is able to offer a scholarship for the first two modules of the MBA to someone with the potential to be a future leader.

This scholarship, the Future Leader Fund, is for those aiming to make a step change in their career, and who view the MBA as essential in accelerating their success.

Amanda Kindness, a Senior Policy Analysis Officer with the Scottish Funding Council, is the 2021 recipient of the OU’s Future Leader Fund Scholarship. From May 2021, Amanda will begin her scholarship for the first two modules of the triple-accredited Master of Business Administration.

“I applied for the Future Leader Fund because I love learning and many of the MBA modules offered by the OU piqued my interest. It's a world-class course with triple accreditation, meaning it's high-quality and proven to add value – I’m always conscious of the need to spend my professional development time wisely!

“I was also attracted because the course is largely via distance learning, but also has opportunities to share the experience with fellow students.

“The scholarship will support my professional development and the modules that I will be part of – 'Managing in a Changing World' and 'Creating and Sustaining Value' – are fascinating topics that are of such importance to anyone aspiring to be a leader. “My career has been spent within the education sector, predominantly in higher education. I’ve had the opportunity to immerse myself in the inner workings of fantastic universities across a huge range of topics – finance, quality, performance, reputation, student experience and so on, and I’ve learned so much.

“My current organisation’s ambition is for Scotland to be 'the best place in the world to learn, educate, research and innovate', and this resonates with me. I want to be the best employee, colleague and leader I can be within that context. UK higher and further education has so much to offer the world, and I feel privileged to be able to play a part. I hope the Future Leader scholarship will enhance and accelerate the contribution I can make within my organisation, my team and within the education sector more broadly.

“Overall, this scholarship will enable me to begin my MBA flexibly alongside full-time work. It will enhance my management knowledge and provide structure for my own reflective practice.

“The Future Leader Fund has enabled me to fast-track my acceptance to an MBA, which I wouldn't have otherwise been able to fund at this point. I am grateful to those alumni who made the scholarship possible.

“This will be my first time studying with The Open University and I'm really looking forward to it. The OU fulfils such an important role for learners across the UK and further afield, improving accessibility and offering convenience to fit study around other commitments. This is a big draw, especially for something like an MBA, where there are lots of benefits from being able to apply your learning immediately in the workplace.

“I am impressed by stories from OU alumni who have spoken about their experiences of doing an OU MBA and the doors this opened for them. I plan to make the absolute best of the experience.

“I’m definitely interested in pursuing the full MBA. It’s great that you have seven years to complete the full programme, which means you can take a modular approach and adapt the pace of your progression through the course depending your work and life commitments.”