Colorado Technical University Online recently became one of fewer than 20 institutions in the world that offer university-level programs in project management fully accredited by the Project Management Institute (PMI) Global Accreditation Center for Project Management (GAC), the world's leading association for project management professionals. The not-for-profit PMI has more than 270,000 members around the world, providing global leadership and developing standards of practice for PM professionals.

After a rigorous period of evaluation, PMI's Global Accreditation Center for Project Management (PMI-GAC), whose stated mission is to serve "two fundamental purposes - to ensure the quality of academic degree programs in project management and to assist faculty and universities in the improvement of degree programs," accredited three CTU Online project management programs. Having their bachelor's and master's degree programs recognized by the world's most respected body in the PM profession, means that CTU has joined the ranks of only a handful of institutions throughout the world that are recognized by the PMI-GAC as fully meeting their standards for the profession. The newly accredited degree programs include:

BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Project Management (BSBA-PM)
MS in Management with a concentration in Project Management (MSM-PM)
MS in Management with a concentration in Technology Management (MSM-ITM)
Project management practitioners are utilized in a wide variety of industries. Commonly found in the engineering and construction management industries where PM professionals strive to keep multi-billion dollar mega projects with dozens, or even hundreds, of subcontractors and vendors on time and on budget, project managers are utilized on projects of all sizes, in a wide variety of industries. Information technology is a perfect example. Today's IT projects can be huge in scale and require professional project management expertise to keep them on track and within budget. Whatever the industry or the size of the project, though, the goal of PM professionals is to keep all the "spinning plates" in the air, bringing each one down at exactly the right moment. Without crashing, of course.

CTU's programs, delivered via the Web and accessed through a user-friendly "Virtual Campus," have been found by the PMI-GAC to be relevant to project management and consistent with the knowledge and process areas described in the PMI's A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide - Third Edition). Individuals studying in the CTU programs will, while earning their degrees, simultaneously earn highly sought-after academic certificates.

Dr. Wallace Pond, chancellor of CTU Online, stated "this newly-conferred honor for our programs in project management places CTU in good company. CTU, and only a few other universities in the world with programs accredited by the PMI - Boston University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Québec - to name three, are the only institutions where one can study and earn a degree recognized as superior, not only by professional peers, but also by the industry's most respected professional association. CTU Online's programs have been shown to meet the very highest professional standards."

Dr. Richard Kettner-Polley, CTU's dean of management, commented that "a lot of people worked very hard to develop these programs and insure their consistency with the Project Management Institute's standards for the profession. The accreditation is the result of working closely with the PMI-GAC site visit team and the accreditation board to demonstrate the rigor of CTU's programs. We are more than a little bit pleased that Colorado Technical University has been recognized as offering gold-standard, world-class programs in Project Management."

Individuals who complete a CTU program earn 1,500 hours of project management experience towards the requirements that are needed to sit for the PMI's Project Management Professional (PMP®) Credential Examination. Currently, applicants with a bachelor's degree (or higher) must document 4,500 hours spent leading and directing project tasks. If the applicant documents that he or she graduated from a GAC accredited program, then only 3,000 hours of work experience need to be presented to fulfill this requirement.

The PMI Educational Foundation has also established a scholarship program to assist qualified students in obtaining degrees from accredited academic institutions of higher learning. They are available for study in the project management field or in fields that are related and that regularly make use of project management professionals. For additional information on the scholarships available for study at CTU, please visit http://www.pmi.org/pmief/scholarship/scholarships.asp.

Source: careercollegecentral.com