Education, Degrees, Certifications for Project Managers

A project manager is the person accountable for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements, and managing the triple constraint for projects, which is cost, time, and scope.


Individuals wishing to obtain professional certifications may take one or more of the offerings available from a variety of organizations:


The Project Management Institute offers the following credentials to project managers:

• Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM),
• Program Management Professional (PgMP)
• Master Project Management (MPM)
• PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP), and
• PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)

Other institutions and organizations:

• The University of Wisconsin’s Masters Certificate in Project Management
• The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) offers GSC as Project Manager.
• The UK Office of Government Commerce offers PRINCE2 certification.
• The Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) offers Registered Project Manager (RegPM) certification.
• The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) and its School of Program Management offers practitioner training in every element of project management for members of the Federal Government, Defense industry and allied nations.

There are other graduate degrees in project and technology management, such as an MSPM. However, the majority of all project management skills may be developed through the completion of a Ph.D, D.Phil or other similar higher Doctorate.


The IPMA is an international network of national project management societies such as Association for Project Management in the UK. IPMA serves as an umbrella organisation representing national societies which offer their certifications.