Bachelors in Project Management

The bachelor in project management degree program focuses on providing students with in-depth knowledge of various project management techniques and theories. In addition to this, the program also introduces the students to various business and management disciplines such as time management, leadership, team building, human resources, communications, risk management and procurement. This program may be offered as a distance learning, on-campus or as a hybrid option. This depends upon the college or university the student chooses to attend. The bachelor’s degree in project management primarily focuses on building a strong foundation for students on real-world scenario application of various project management theories such as execution, risk analysis, quality control, closure, cost management and planning.

Typically, students successfully complete their bachelor’s degree in project management program in four years as full time students.

How long does it take to get a bachelor’s in project management?

How to enroll in a bachelor’s degree in project management program?

If you choose to pursue a bachelor’s degree in project management program, the university or college will ask you to fulfill certain basic admission requirements before they consider giving you admission. These requirements will also act as basic eligibility criteria for admission into this program. These prerequisites may vary from university to university but you are normally required to fulfill the following:

• A high school diploma or GED or equivalent
• Official high school transcripts
• An acceptable GPA, a GPA of 3.0 or above is preferable
• ACT or SAT test scores
• Letter of recommendation
• Personal essay

Some universities or colleges may give preference to students with previous high school coursework in related subjects such as mathematics, calculus and business studies, during the admission process. In order for your admission application to stand out, you should include in your application any professional internship that you may have completed and are related to this program.

Project Management Bachelors Course Topics

The curriculum for bachelor’s degree in project management program teaches students to plan and control projects, understand the life cycle of a project from initial planning to final completion, manage direct and indirect costs, manage and calculate risk, maintain project quality and manage procurement issues. The coursework develops and enhances various skills students need to become an efficient project manager. These skills include analytical skills, customer service skills, innovative drive, communication skills, writing skills, technical skills, business skills, time management skills and decision making skills.

Coursework may vary from university to university but normally includes the following core courses:

• Fundamentals of management
• Fundamentals of business law
• Fundamentals of organizational communication
• Principles of finance
• Principles of human resource management
• Principles of accounting
• Marketing and sales
• Introduction to project management
• Principles of procurement and contracts
• Managing project risk
• Statistical reasoning
• Fundamentals of supply chain management
• Motivating project teams
• Fundaments of leadership

Most universities and colleges require students to complete a capstone project as a part of their curriculum. The primary objective of this activity is so that the students can improve their knowledge about project management and apply various project management theories to real-world situations.

Students who successfully complete this degree are expected to demonstrate various abilities such as:

• Proficiency in developing a project management life cycle
• Proficiency in all basic project management tools and techniques, while focusing on communications, risk analysis, cost estimation, budgeting and quality control
• Knowledge of techniques for project scheduling
• Techniques to measure cost variance, schedule variance and earned value

Career outlook and statistics

Various careers related to this program include project coordinator, project management consultant, project manager, construction project manager, architectural or engineering project manager.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the annual median salary of management analysts otherwise known as management consultants was $78,600 in 2012. BLS projected that the number of people working as management analysts or management consultants would grow by 19 percent from 2012 to 2022, which is faster than the average of all occupations.

• Construction project managers

According to BLS, the annual median salary of construction managers was $82,790 in 2012. BLS also projected that the number of people working as construction managers would grow by 16 percent from 2012 to 2022, which is also faster than the average of all occupations.

• Architectural and engineering project managers

According to BLS, the annual median salary of engineering and architectural managers was $124,870 in 2012.

Where can you work with a bachelor’s degree in project management?

• Project coordinator
• Project management consultant
• Project manager
• Construction project manager
• Architectural or engineering project manager