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Press Release - February 21, 2006
Online Project Management Programs Offer Flexible Learning Environment
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
New agreement will help multinational corporations educate and train employees engaged in complex projects
Producing jet engines for commercial airlines, restoring the public services infrastructure in Iraq and manufacturing electrical systems for military aircraft all require experienced project managers who can handle myriad details and complete projects on time and within budget. To keep their knowledge and skills updated, project managers and those who want to enter the field need an education program that fits their hectic work schedules. Penn State's online graduate project management programs offer the flexibility these professionals need.
The programs are the result of a collaboration involving multinational corporations Rolls-Royce, AMEC and Goodrich Corporation and the University of Manchester that began five years ago in response to the corporations' need for project management education for their European-based employees. The corporations are actively engaged in project management activities: Rolls-Royce through its civil and defense aerospace, marine and energy divisions; AMEC through its international project management and service ventures; and Goodrich through its aerospace and defense industry initiatives.
"These corporations determined the best means to train cadres of future project managers is to bring people up through the corporate ranks," said Jeffrey Pinto, Andrew Morrow and Elizabeth Lee Black Chair in Management of Technology at Penn State Erie and lead faculty member for Penn State's online project management programs.
Penn State was invited to join the partnership to bring the project management programs to the corporations' North American employees, according to Pinto, a project management expert and consultant. He explained, "The original training program in Europe worked so well the companies asked the University of Manchester to find a U.S. academic partner." Pinto's colleagues at the University of Manchester approached him about having Penn State join the partnership, and "in May 2004, we began offering the project management program to our corporate partners' employees and to anyone else interested in the program."
The corporate partners chose distance learning as the delivery method for the training, because it allows employees to learn when and where it's convenient.
"Distance learning really works well for us," said Mike Brown, head of Rolls-Royce's Programme Management Centre and director of the project management program for the company. More than 200 Rolls-Royce employees have received project management training and are contributing their expertise to improve the organization's processes. "For instance in one of our divisions, a greatly strengthened cost management/change management process was put into place resulting in better budget adherence and bottom line retention and increase of profit," he said.
Penn State's World Campus offers a 12-credit graduate certificate in project management, 24-credit advanced certificate and 30-credit master of project management degree. Courses are organized in a group-based model, with each group progressing through a course over a six-month period. Since launching the programs, Penn State has had more than 700 enrollments, and two students have earned master's degrees.
Pascale Malouin, a project manager for AMEC who works on power projects in Canada, traveled from Edmonton, Alberta, to Penn State Erie in December 2004 to receive her master of project management degree in person. "The distance learning format worked out very well, enabling me to work at my job while gaining valuable project management knowledge," she said. "The program made a difference in the way I work even before I graduated. I've been applying the course concepts ever since."
Craig Olin also appreciated the flexibility of online learning. A program manager for Goodrich Corporation's Cargo Systems in Jamestown, N.D., he also earned his master of project management degree in 2004 and has been using the knowledge he gained during the program to "put in place project metrics that enable us to accurately track our progress and implement change where needed in a timely manner. The team was able to focus to be within cost and on schedule while exceeding performance expectations." Olin, who has spent the last 10 years in project management, added, "This was an excellent opportunity for me to learn, and I really enjoyed the Penn State World Campus experience."
World Campus project management faculty members emphasize research projects and group activities, so students can apply what they learn immediately. That's important to Rolls-Royce. "Whether it's an aircraft engine, nuclear submarine or power station, the project management challenges are consistently the same," Brown said. "The online program provides education that project managers can use in any industry."
A key benefit of the program is the opportunities it gives current and former students to network with colleagues within their own organizations and at other organizations and to share best practices. "We're creating a project management community of practice," said Peter K. Forster, program manager for Penn State's project management programs.
One member of that community is student Michael Kelley, an AMEC project manager who is working on his master's thesis project. A resident of Beaver, Pa., Kelley plans to graduate in the spring. This will be his second Penn State degree. He earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering in 1990 and has been working in engineering and construction management ever since. He has been involved in project management for more than 10 years and currently is directing the Parker Hannifin Corporation headquarters expansion project in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. What he found particularly helpful about Penn State's program was "the 'people' side of project management," he said. "As an engineer, I would often overlook the soft skills needed to succeed in this industry."
In addition to soft skills, Penn State's program gives students the opportunity to understand where they can be significantly better ‹ beyond learning lessons from their own mistakes, according to Diane Parente, Penn State Erie associate professor of management. A former project manager herself, Parente added, "Students get to practice working in teams, learning from each other's mistakes in a safe academic environment."
Parente was encouraged to learn that what she's teaching is having an impact in the field. One of her students told her he learned about a technique she teaches in class from someone who had never taken the class. That project manager had heard about the technique from one of her former students. As Parente explained, "Students are pushing out what they are learning to their peers, subordinates and supervisors."
Ray Venkataraman, Penn State Erie associate professor of management, is helping identify topics for master's degree research projects. While on sabbatical last year, he visited Rolls-Royce, meeting with employees and collecting data on the organization's supply chain issues. He plans to analyze one of the supply chain issues and give the other topics to Rolls-Royce students.
Venkataraman's focus is on the practical application of concepts he covers in class. He does that by creating teams with students from different organizations and encouraging them to share their experiences and perspectives. The result, he said, is "very rich and interesting discussions."
The online project management programs have received support from the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), an international alliance of research-led higher education institutions. Both Penn State and the University of Manchester are WUN members.
"We look forward to expanding this relationship into other academic areas," Forster said.
For information about the master of project management program, visit http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/wc/MasterinProjectManagement.shtml. For information about current project management partners: Penn State, www.psu.edu; Penn State Erie, www.pserie.psu.edu; University of Manchester, www.manchester.ac.uk; AMEC, www.amec.com; and Rolls-Royce, www.rolls-royce.com.
Editor contact: Deborah A. Benedetti; 814-238-4895; dab12@outreach.psu.edu
Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.
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