PMFORUM Breaking News
Breaking News in the Project Management World
Thursday, July 01, 2010
IPMA meets with PMI’s GAC Chair for accreditation talks
Heraklion,
Crete (pictured below), provided a delightful venue for Brigitte
Schaden, President of the International Project Management Association
(IPMA), to hold another informal meeting with John Cable, Chair of the
Global Accreditation Center (GAC) for the Project Management Institute
(PMI®). John had traveled from the USA to attend PM-Greece's biannual
conference PM-05.
No
details of the talks were released however, IPMA do not currently have
an accreditation program for academic institutions. It is thought that
Schaden and Cable were discussing ways that GAC and IPMA could
cooperate in this field, building on a previous meeting at the IPMA
Council Meeting in Den Haag, Netherlands, in March 2010.
It was noted that Brane Semolic, Chair of IPMA's Research Management Board, had attended the May meeting of GAC in Milan, Italy, speaking on virtual professional networks.
As interest in academic qualification has grown rapidly in the last few years, more universities have expressed interest in recognition of their programs by the professional bodies. IPMA member associations in UK and Australia have such programs but other Associations have been slow to follow. Competition amongst universities and pressure on budgets has meant that many schools seek accreditation in order to attract a viable student population. However, that same budget pressure has led to reluctance to seek accreditation from multiple bodies; thus a scheme for 
project management departments to have a single accreditation body seems likely to attract considerable interest.
Photo at right: John Cable, GAC Chair on left with IPMA President Brigitte Schaden in March 2010 in Den Haag, The Netherlands; photo courtesy of Jouko Vaskimo, PMForum correspondent for Finland.
There would be a number of obstacles to overcome. PMI have invested considerable sums in GAC and provide much material and staff support to GAC, while IPMA views PMI technical processes with some skepticism. Published GAC documents do not predicate any observance of PMBOK in academic programmes but neither do they espouse IPMA's competence based view of education for the project and programme manager. Current thinking is that the existing GAC scheme could easily be adapted to accommodate some of IPMA's concerns. So future discussions seem likely to address these issues.
It was noted that Brane Semolic, Chair of IPMA's Research Management Board, had attended the May meeting of GAC in Milan, Italy, speaking on virtual professional networks.
As interest in academic qualification has grown rapidly in the last few years, more universities have expressed interest in recognition of their programs by the professional bodies. IPMA member associations in UK and Australia have such programs but other Associations have been slow to follow. Competition amongst universities and pressure on budgets has meant that many schools seek accreditation in order to attract a viable student population. However, that same budget pressure has led to reluctance to seek accreditation from multiple bodies; thus a scheme for
Photo at right: John Cable, GAC Chair on left with IPMA President Brigitte Schaden in March 2010 in Den Haag, The Netherlands; photo courtesy of Jouko Vaskimo, PMForum correspondent for Finland.
There would be a number of obstacles to overcome. PMI have invested considerable sums in GAC and provide much material and staff support to GAC, while IPMA views PMI technical processes with some skepticism. Published GAC documents do not predicate any observance of PMBOK in academic programmes but neither do they espouse IPMA's competence based view of education for the project and programme manager. Current thinking is that the existing GAC scheme could easily be adapted to accommodate some of IPMA's concerns. So future discussions seem likely to address these issues.