The University of Pretoria has often been hailed as the leaders in project management research, education and training.

Monday 26 February 2024 marked the 200^th time that a comprehensive programme in project management (PPM) kicked off, this time with 60 enrolled course participants.

The first intake of the PPM (Programme in Project Management) was presented in 1997 in collaboration with what is now called EUP (Enterprises University of Pretoria). Ever since, the content has been revised to keep abreast of new developments.

In the early years, all participants on the PPM attended classes on 20 working days (4 blocks of 5 days  each – from Monday to Friday). The PPM is still offered in this mode of presentation, referred to as the Midweek PPM. The latest Midweek intake (the 201^st presentation of the PPM) started on 4 March 2024.

In 2006, it became clear that many potential candidates could not afford to be away from work for 20 days in order to attend classes. The solution was to offer an alternative way of presentation, namely the Weekend PPM, presented on 8 Fridays and 8 Saturdays. The first programme presented this way started on 16 March 2007. The Weekend alternative is still popular, with the next intake scheduled to start on 15 March 2024.

Although short courses in project management were presented online earlier, the comprehensive PPM has been presented fully online on the University’s Blackboard education system since 7 September 2020. This Online PPM is becoming increasingly popular.

All three of these presentation modes (Midweek, Weekend and Online) remain in popular demand. In total, the PPM was presented 9 times in 2023 and plans are on the table for 9 or more intakes in 2024.

The GSTM believes that the approximately 10’000 people who have done the PPM, continues to contribute to improved management of Southern African projects. The project management careers of these individuals also benefit from having completed the PPM. An additional benefit for the participants is that the PPM has – over more than 26 years – become well known in industry.

For decades, from about the 1950s, project management was considered as mainly scheduling, budgeting and control of projects. One of the keys of the University of Pretoria success story is that, in the mid-1990s, it was realized that project management was developing into a much more multi-disciplinary field and that the University – a large, multi-disciplinary university – was ideally suited to address the entire multi-disciplinary field of modern project management.  A team of lecturers from diverse faculties (experienced practitioners) studied specific aspects of project management, developed material and started presenting modules on the PPM and, shortly afterward, also on graduate programmes that include project management modules.

Several PhD studies in project management, as well as literally hundreds of mini-dissertations on project management topics at master’s level (Masters in Project Management), have been completed at the GSTM (Graduate School of Technology Management). These research projects serve to keep the lecturers in touch with real-life situations in industry. The PPM, other GSTM project management courses, and industry also benefit significantly from this research.

Teaching, as well as developing and updating study material for the PPM, provides much synergy with project management programmes at graduate levels.

The PPM is recognized by the international PMI (Project Management Institute), ECSA (Engineering Council of SA), SACPCMP (SA Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions), SACNASP (SA Council for Natural Science Professionals) and PMSA (Project Management SA).

Although the PPM is only one cog in the project management machinery of the GSTM, it has made a significant, national contribution over more than 26 years, and is still going from strength to strength.