Requirement of Certification for Higher Education

Business has changed greatly in the last 20-30 years. The introduction of global competition has forced businesses to find new ways to gain a competitive advantage, whether it be new or improved products (as product life cycles have shortened), cost reductions (perhaps through a new MIS), or just improving the customer experience. With Project Management, companies have the ability to focus on many things at once without losing focus on their core business model. By bringing together varied peoples into the PM team, innovation is increased. Under the old way of doing things, the quality of each plan would suffer. Projects have a start and finish and can be tracked and quantified from beginning to end. This ensures a higher quality end result within time and resource restrictions.

Over the past few years, project managers and Project management has shown tremendous growth. Project management has evolved over the past several years from an activity in an organization to a discipline in its own right. Many professional bodies exist today to represent project management as a discipline, Some of which include, PMI, Prince2 Foundation, PM Bok.

However, obtaining the knowledge required to successfully orchestrate and manage projects is a challenge within itself. Individuals with the drive and desire to become project managers have a number of options regarding the means of properly equipping oneself for real world project management situations. In addition to seeking an academic degree in project management, and before becoming a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with the Project Management Institute (PMI), learners are encouraged to participate in Project Integration Management Simulations through the PMI Registered Education Provider (REP) and world-class education simulation company, Double Masters (Double Masters, 2016).

Project Management Institute. (2000). _A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (4th ed.)._

7. What technical competences are required of a project manager; for instance, educational requirements and certifications? (Closed-ended)

Executive Summary Project management is the science of planning, organizing, executing, and managing the resources needed to achieve a specific goal. Effective project managers (PM) strategically facilitate the entire project management process to ensure the project’s success. To do this the PM must adequately meet the specific requirements (i.e., time, scope, quality, and cost) set forth by the project and its stakeholders. It is theorized that PM must possess a set of core competencies in order to successfully manage a project. Those competencies are development of project management knowledge areas, application of appropriate project management tools and techniques, understanding of the project

It has been a long and hard road toward obtaining my higher learning credentials. Immediately after high school I attended college, falling short academically in my first several years of college led me to be to believe that I wasn’t smart enough to attend college. At the base of my soul, I knew I was college material, I just needed the right tools to exert that drive and ambition. On and off again routine of my educational pursuit led me to the disgust of own myself. At the age of 31, I reach my breaking point, thinking I will never graduate with my bachelor’s degree. Most people pursue higher learning to increase their earning potential but at that point in my life, I reached my financial goal. A coworker told me about the University of

I became a PMI member in 2008 and one year after got my PMP certification. I started not being conscious of the enormous value of PMI, but sometime after, I realized that PMI changed my life, my profession and my definition of project management. Soon, I became a member of PMI Bogota and started participating in initiatives to promote project management in my region. Although I have not lived in Bogota and the chapter was more oriented to centralized activities in that city, I continued supporting the Bogota chapter and participated as volunteer for some activities.

The majority of project management positions require a bachelor’s degree in a business management related field, as well as a professional certification and management experience. Many project manager professionals elect to obtain a master’s degree or advanced postgraduate certification in project management, analytics, or business management. The Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification is the most recognized certificate for project managers. According to the Project Management Institute, “As a PMP, you can work in virtually any industry, with any methodology and in any location, and earn on average 20% more than without a PMP.” (pmi.org) Education is highly valued in project management; however, important skills such as, good communication and the ability to execute are developed with experience.

PMI Southern Alberta is an incredibly active Project Management Institute network that currently holds the title of being the 3rd largest in Canada with a base of over 2,400 active members. The focus of this organization is to encourage the project management principles within its jurisdiction to communities, local business, and specialists (PMI Southern Chapter, 2017). Members can expect to receive numerous tangible and intangible benefits by joining. These benefits are listed under an umbrella that contains areas such as professionalism, mastery, and involvement. For professionalism, members can expect monthly dinner meetings at a discounted price, involvement in the company ambassador program, and a Toastmaster club. Also in mastery,

More employers are looking at project management certification as important, and it is becoming more necessary for a project manager. Project Management Institute's (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) credential is the preferred certification that most employers are regarding as “highly desirable” for a new project manager. One reason employers are increasing weight on project management credentials is demand. More and more clients are requesting a project manager be certified in order to take on their project. “The marketplace in the U.S. is demanding the PMP or other project management certification," he says. "Going back five or six years, IBM has seen requests for proposals where the clients are demanding certified project managers

Certification shows that you have demonstrated excellence in the field by meeting standard requirements established by global project management practitioners. Certification serves as an unbiased endorsement of your project management knowledge and professional experience on a global level. Holders of the PMI certification form a global close knit community, with a surplus of Project Management forums, discussion boards, and online communities attracting PMI professionals from across the world, willing to share tips, insights and pool their experience, thus staying abreast of latest developments and trends in the industry. Obtaining a PMI certification improves your marketability to employers and commands a higher

Project management institute is a non-profit world-wide organization. It outlines the industry standardization, education, membership, research and certification. They advances the careers, matures the project management profession, and expands the organizational success through standards, resources, academic research, professional development courses. They offer free downloads of tools, templates, e-learning courses and offer free training sometimes. It offers the services like standard development, publications, hosting conferences and finally offers accreditations in the Project management. To attain the PMI credential, the member need to document first about their education and experience as it’s a requirement. PMI’s advocacy for project management is by its services. These certifications provide the competency and knowledge with a PMP certification. The income and career opportunities for credential holders denote that employer identify the value delivered by practitioner. The Project management institute research program which is expensive but advances in the science, profession of project management.

This is achieved by setting expectations for those that practice project management globally, which will set the tone when individuals in the business execute them as prescribed. By understanding the expectations of the CEPC and putting them into practice, the field of project management will become an example of consummate professionalism. Other professions may seek to utilize some or all of the elements of the PMI, CEPC (PMI, 2006).

Certification is something which provides assurance and confirmation about specific objects namely; people, organization, projects etc. There are several organizations which provide project management certifications namely,