Superintendent Oliver’s masterly performance

Returning to education proved inspirational for North Yorkshire police superintendent Amanda Oliver.

Supt Oliver, the safer neighbourhood commander for Hambleton and Richmondshire, graduated from Teesside University with an MBA (Master of Business Administration). The 41-year-old married mum-of-two said it was the great support from staff at the University which helped her to balance her career with a young family and study. Originally from Teesside and still living in the area, she started her policing career with Cleveland Police nearly 20 years ago. All the staff were supportive and inspirational Supt Oliver said: 'I was on a high potential development scheme which encouraged people to do work towards a qualification. I decided to study at Teesside as I was very impressed when I visited the campus. I met some of the Business School staff and from the Dean downwards they all were supportive and inspirational, they made me feel that I would succeed.' She added: 'I decided on the MBA as it’s a universally recognised qualification. When I looked at the components I felt it would enhance my skills and improve me as a senior leader in policing.' While completing the course Amanda was promoted from chief inspector to superintendent in North Yorkshire Police and given her own command area. She added: 'The course looked at financial management, strategy, leadership and change management. I’m now able to bring all of this to my job. My dissertation focused on marketing and how to improve public confidence in North Yorkshire Police. I’m now putting that research from my dissertation into practice.' Supt Oliver said she has benefited from the MBA as it has helped to progress her career and she has gained a qualification which is well respected in policing. She said: 'The MBA is a fantastic qualification to work through. All of the assignments and the dissertation are based upon applying academia to your own work place. This results in the course being extremely relevant to the students, and the organisation that you work in really benefits too. 'It was the first time I’d studied at Teesside University and for me, returning to education was a big step, but the staff were so helpful and supportive. I am really grateful for the help and support from both my family and work colleagues. Without the help of Professor Michael Macauley I’m not sure I would have qualified. He understood the need to find the balance between work and study. 'Undertaking the MBA was a fantastic experience, I was prepared for the hard work and took the approach of looking at it one step at a time. I continued in this way until I reached the point of my dissertation and by then, I felt I had come so far already that I really just wanted to keep going.'

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