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Student life


More and more railway operators are enjoying the fruits of their hard work on the IRO’s increasingly popular Professional Development Programme of Railway Operational Management courses. Vicky Leek meets three recent graduates


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With 150 students having already achieved a certifi cate,


diploma or degree, operational staff at all grades feel their careers are benefi ting from the Professional Development Programme (PDP). Such is the popularity of the


programme that 158 students are currently enrolled on the courses. Rail Professional caught up with three members of railway staff – Chris Own, Stewart Prentice and Carleen Myatt – who are seeing their prospects fl ourish thanks


to the programme. Chris Owen has been a train driver with First ScotRail for nine years and a driver instructor for the past fi ve. Previously he worked for EWS


as a traction inspector at Peak Forest.


Ideally, Owen is hoping to work


towards securing an operational standards role or, if he is lucky, a role as a fi eld inspector with RAIB.


Studying for success Speaking of his industry experience, he says: ‘I was conscious that my career had become stagnant and I wanted to take some action to reinvigorate it, as well as expanding my knowledge of railway operational management and to stretch the grey matter a little bit. ‘I decided to study with the IRO


and, although exempted, I elected to initially do the DipHE, as I had been away from academia for rather a long time. As I was successful in this, I continued on to the BSc.’ ‘I found that a number of the modules took me to areas where I had no prior knowledge and taught me a lot in those fi elds. Perhaps even more valuable has been the knowledge of academic skills and procedures at degree level and the confi dence I have gained as I have successfully completed these courses.’ Owen is considering studying


for a masters, he adds, and is hopeful that the qualifi cations he has acquired will be useful to him in the future as his career develops within the industry. ‘I found that while the courses


have been very demanding of my time and energy, they have also been very informative, educational – and, also, strangely addictive!’


The 2010 student intake meeting in London before starting their courses


PAGE 30 JUNE 2011


‘I found the courses demanding, but very informative, educational – and, also, strangely addictive!’


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