HISTORY
The University of Valencia Masters in
Project Management and
Administration (MPMA) dates back to the beginning of the 1990s. In 1991,
Rafael Lostado PhD participated in a conference in London aimed at preparing
Rio-92, the name given to the ‘United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development’ (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
Shortly afterwards, Lostado completed a Masters in Systems Theory at the
University of Valencia with lecturer Lorenzo Ferrer. The synergy of these
two environments saw a need emerge for a Masters in Sustainable Development
to train project managers using an approach revolving around sustainability.
Ten years later, in 2001, the complexity of the world called for
professionals with strategic vision, leading to the birth of the
Masters in Project Management and Administration, with a more
method-based and technical approach aimed at resolving conflicts in decision
making and implementing solutions. As the demand for project managers in
Spain grew, the need to train forward-looking project managers, aware of the
complexity of their environment and able to find sustainable solutions to
the conflicts and opportunities that arise in organisations on a daily
basis, became increasingly clear.
In 2008, following our direct and ongoing experience
in project management and in implementing this technique in organisations,
we have learnt that it is not possible to manage an organisation’s
activities successfully without project management tools. For this reason,
the Masters itself was undertaken entirely as a project using an integrated
package of Project and Portfolio
Management solutions by Microsoft. From this year onwards, the official
languages of the Executive Masters in
Project Management with Microsoft (EMPM) are Spanish and English.
At present, the labour market demands an increasing number of professionals
in the sector of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) with
training and qualifications in project management. As a result, stemming
from the agreement between the University of Valencia, OdPe and Microsoft in
2009, an International Post Graduate Course called the
Executive Masters in Project
Management with Microsoft was born. The course provides all the
professional training necessary for students to become professional project
managers in the ICT sector, certified by
Microsoft and the main
international project management organisations:
Project Management Institute
(PMI) and
International Project Management
Association (IPMA).
EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
Our primary goal is to train
committed and competent people and professionals, capable of becoming
authentic references for the professionals they work with on a daily
basis. The courses are designed as open forums for ideas, experience and
knowledge in which each participant plays an active role and is responsible
for his/her own learning process.
On combining theoretical studies with their daily professional activity and
reflecting on how their own projects are managed, students acquire a sound
base to learn the international standards of project management established
by the main professional organisations in project management at
international level: Project
Management Professional (PMI) and la
International Project Management
Association (IPMA).
The educational project is
divided into three terms:
1st Term: Learning about project management standards
2nd Term: Obtaining international certificates: PMP-PMI;
TDP/PDP-IPMA and PRINCE 2 from APMG
3rd Term: Implementing project management in
organisations.
OUR METHOD
Our self-led learning method is based on a dynamic and open conception of
and feedback from the courses themselves, as a result of identifying five
types of conflicts that project managers must face on a daily basis:
·
Partial knowledge of the real
situation
·
In business and organisations, the
“client” is king
·
The fact that most organisations are
inefficient
·
The widespread habit of project
managers of waiting for orders from their superiors in project processes
·
How difficult it is to make personal,
professional and family life compatible. This method is structured in
contents grouped into sections that are at the same time based on teaching
units, as the basis for the entire system
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OFFER
The professional training offer of distance post graduate courses in project
management at the Business Management Department of the University of
Valencia comprises the following programmes:
o
Masters in Project Management and Administration
o
Executive Masters in Project Management with Microsoft.
o
University Diploma in Preparation for Professional Certificates:
-Project Management Professional
from the Project Management Institute
(PMP-PMI).
-TDP-PDP levels from the International Project Management Association
(IPMA).
- PRINCE 2 from the Association for Project Management (APMG).
o
University Diploma in Project Management
o
University Diploma of Professional Specialisation in Project Management