SBS Blog > Part time study, full time work: providing the right balance by Mari Galletly

Part time study, full time work: providing the right balance

By Mari Galletly - Posted on 22 February 2024

Mari Galletly did her MBA via our part time Executive route, allowing her to combine work, study and family life while benefiting her career immediately with the knowledge gained on the course.

I have been employed within the Third Sector in Scotland since 2005. Within this time, I have progressed in my career through various management roles. Since February 2023 I have been Director of Enable Cares, with operational responsibility for self-directed social care services across 23 local authority areas in Scotland, with a workforce of 2000 employees.

I was also the Board Chair for a housing association subsidiary that provided specialist housing solutions for people with complex needs living in the north east of Scotland.

I was in a Regional Director role with my current employer at the start of the MBA and was keen to develop further in my career to an Executive Director role. My employer was keen to help me in this journey by supporting my continued learning and professional development and the MBA seemed to be the best option as it covered essential aspects of an executive role and remit. The fact the Executive MBA allowed me to study in and around my current full-time employment was a major factor in choosing this route.

The course itself was challenging and really consolidated a lot of the learning that I have gained in practice throughout my career. I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to connect with a broad spectrum of people working across a variety of sectors. The group assignments were enjoyable and really built my confidence of how to navigate complex assignments to a positive output in the form of an overall submission whilst navigating the complexities of working in a group. As such, the learning from these modules was two-fold; the opportunity to strengthen and build knowledge of a particular aspect of business but also the ability to work with others across a variety of sectors.

During the course, I was offered the opportunity to undertake a live case, working as a consultant with an external real-life client. This was enjoyable throughout and really cemented the learning from the other modules. The overall project submission for the dissertation was an opportunity to work with a live organisation and build upon the learning across the various modules and use the learning to look in detail at solutions to a real business issue. These aspects were very much opportunities to learn in practice.

Towards the latter stage of my Executive MBA journey, I progressed into an Executive Director role and found much of the learning from the MBA was very much reflective of the reality of the day-to-day role; with the modules covered in the course being the fundamental aspects of my now day to day role and responsibilities.

My employer was very supportive, having sought to support me in this opportunity from the outset. For the dissertation module, I was able to tackle an issue that was live and relevant to my employer, which supported me in achieving the assignment requirements whilst my employer was able to benefit from the outcome of the project and recommendations that could be taken forward.

I would definitely recommend the Executive MBA to others - and have in fact done so since completing the course. While the course itself is intense, the university offers so much flexibility that you can balance your study with both full time employment and the reality of family life! There were so many students on the course who were able to work flexibly to complete their studies around their home lives and careers.

The opportunity to connect with so many diverse sectors is invaluable, and the overall sense of achievement was one that really boosted my confidence. At this time, I am now in an Executive Director role and feel that this has been possible through the learning and professional development gained through the completion of my MBA degree.