PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEACHING IN ENGINEERING HIGHER EDUCATION: A NEW PERSPECTIVE FOR DEVELOPING COMPETENCIES

PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEACHING IN ENGINEERING HIGHER

EDUCATION: A NEW PERSPECTIVE FOR DEVELOPING

COMPETENCIES

De los Ríos, I.

Ortíz, I. Díaz-Puente, J.M.

Universidad Politecnica de Madrid

Abstract

This paper sets out the methodological basis of a cooperative model for interdisciplinary training focused towards developing competencies for the certification in Project Management. The model is being gradually phased in a new way by the GIE-project Group at graduate and post-graduate educational levels (in an International Erasmus Mundus Master’s, an international PhD course, and a Post-Graduate Seminar). The educational cooperation strategy is directed towards obtaining a validation of competencies as to knowledge, experience and attitudes in line with the standards of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). The results show how phasing in teaching aims across different educational levels facilitates a gradual training in the 46 elements of competencies required to obtain the IPMA’s certification in Project Management. The educational strategy is conceived as a new teaching dimension within the framework of the EHEA, taking the course projects - a Preliminary course plan of the subjects, a Final Degree Course Project and a Final Master’s Course Project- as an educational component suited to generating a "pre-work experience" to link teaching activity to the business and industrial environment.

Keywords: Competent Project Management. Cooperative Education. Project-Based Learning. International Certification. International Erasmus Mundus.

1. Introduction: Certification of competencies

We are currently witnessing a qualitative change in the concept of what constitutes a job that goes beyond skills and qualifications to focus on competencies. According to this new concept, job competencies form the foundations of the job world. What business is demanding nowadays are competent professionals rather than experienced experts.

As part of the framework of the European Higher Education Area emphasis is placed on the fact that one of the measures needed to become employable shall be through the

development of transversal skills and competencies such as communication and languages, an ability to handle information, solve problems, work as part of a team and perform

well socially (Convención de Instituciones Europeas de Enseñanza Superior, Salamanca,

2001). Competence is an extension of the concept of skill and qualifications, the result of the way the organisation of work and planning activities are rapidly evolving technologically (Grootings, 1994). Vocational action competence (Delcourt, 1999) is thus referred to and may be understood as the sum of the worker’s competencies that are essential if a work task is to be done well (Delcourt, 1999). Other authors define vocational action competence as the set of knowledge, procedures, attitudes and abilities that a person possesses and are necessary to effectively tackle –with the level and quality of performance required- the tasks demanded by a profession in a particular job to solve any problems that may arise in an independent and creative manner, and contribute to organising the work and the social working environment (Echeverría, 2002). Numerous studies throughout the world are proposing this new focus on competence-based education (Parsons, Caylor and Simmons, 2005), as a process that must integrate knowledge, skills and values (Mulcahy, 2000). This new approach has led to certification taking on a more important role in all disciplines both within the sphere of engineering and other professional fields (Nelly, 2007). In this context different models of competence certification are appearing (EMCI, 2007; ASCE, 2005; CHEA, 2001; CONOCER, 1997; Long, and Kishchuk, 1997) with different approaches in their outlines, processes and certification systems.

The concept has also taken deep root in the working environment for selecting staff and in “management by competencies” when evaluating human capital and even in the form of competence-based remuneration (Echeverría, 2002).

2. Competence certification in the sphere of Project Management

The basic terms for certification in the area of project management derive from the international standard ISO/IEC 17024 “General requirements for organisations that issue individual certifications” [8]. Within this international scope of competence certification, competence is defined as the aptitude shown for applying knowledge and/or skills, and when applicable,

proven personal attributes (UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17024, 2003).

In the area of competence in project management the IPMA model (AEIPRO-IPMA, 2006) proposes a certification system based on three areas of competencies: technical, behavioural and contextual competencies. The IPMA developed these competencies (ICB-IPMA Competence Baseline) from the National Basic Competencies (NCB). In the case of Spain, AEIPRO, a member of the Spanish section of the IPMA, draws up the Requirements for

Competence in Project Management (NCB) that set out the main work experience for the

IPMA’s universal certification system in combination with the 40 IPMA member associations spread across the world.

For many years the qualifications and competence programmes have been a matter of great importance for project management associations throughout the world. Apart from the IPMA model that has been around since 1965, there are other project management certification Institutes: the Project Management Institute defines a certification system based on areas of functional knowledge (Project Management Institute, 2000) while Austria’s Project Management system refers to people’s knowledge (explicit) and experience (Gareís, 2002) In the sphere of engineering projects the cooperative education programmes are presented as an approved option for students to improve their acquisition of competencies (Parsons, Caylor and Simmons, 2005; Bartkus, 2001; Hackett, Martin and Rosselli, 1998).

3. A model of de cooperative education for competence in Project Management

Although certification, education and training need to be completely separate [8], candidates need to receive education and training in project management if they are to be successful in the certification process (AEIPRO-IPMA, 2006). This is why higher education institutions oriented towards training future professionals in the area of project management must enhance the chances of their pupils, students or course participants obtaining a specific certificate that reflects their personal attributes, education, training or work experience.

Therefore, the UPM’s Educational Innovation Group, part of the GIE-Project formed by a group of teachers from the UPM’s Project Engineering area is implementing a cooperative education model directed towards student competence in project management. This model is geared to generating a new teaching dimension around the Course Projects – a Preliminary course plan of the subjects, a Final Degree Course Project and a Final Master’s Course Project- as an educational component suited to generating a "pre-work experience" to develop

new learning methods within the framework of the EHEA to link teaching activity to the business and industrial environment (GIE-Project, 2007).

The cooperative education model is gradually developing competencies in the different educational levels in the field of engineering in accordance with the IPMA’s international standards: two degree subjects, two post-graduate programmes and an international PhD. Cooperative education (co-op) is developed using a multidisciplinary group of Engineering Projects teachers from Madrid Technical University (UPM) and through agreements with numerous Public Institutions –the Agricultural and Rural Development Department of the Madrid Regional Government and the Regional Institute of Safety and Hygiene at Work (IRSST) of the Madrid Regional Government– Local Action Groups, development project managers and Business. These educational agreements between the UPM and the different public and private institutions jointly define the scope of the projects, the partners and the interested parties and the requirements and goals of the projects.

The projects are carried out by a team in a real context. Each group of students with the help of a teacher-tutor must solve the problems set in the real context of their work, structure their project, decide the work to be handed in, plan the project stages and schedule them according to the time available and the team’s resources, manage the changes, periodically inform the teacher-tutor and the promoter of the progress being made and finally document the results obtained and verbally inform the representatives of the institutions collaborating of these results. In some cases -as with the subject called 5th course rural development Projects- the teams have some financial resources at their disposal to develop the projects. In many cases these projects are the object of new phases, and may even be actually put into practice.

These tasks off cooperation are the mechanism for gradually facilitating access to the three spheres of competencies: technical, behavioural and contextual. The teaching programmes designed allow evaluating knowledge concerning the basic elements of Project Management. The strategy is being designed in collaboration with the Spanish Engineering Projects Association (AEIPRO), a part of the IPMA since the beginning of the 90s; this ensures that the competencies in the teaching programmes are up-to-date and are incorporated into the international corpus of knowledge on project management (Kerzner, 2000; Huemann, 2000; Crawford, Pollack and England, 2006; Crawford, 2005; Morris, Patel and Wearne, 2000). Table 1 summarises the programmes of the different levels of education and the external institutions that are cooperating on this educational innovation experience.

Programme

Levels Programme Name ECTS

Institutions UPM-

ETSI External Institutions Grade 4th course Projects (1 group of students) 3 DPPR-ETSI Agricultural Scientists Mexico Postgraduate School Grade 5th course Integrated Rural Development Projects 3 DPPR-ETSI Agricultural Scientists DG Agriculture and Rural Development (Madrid School) International Master’s Postgraduate International Master’s Erasmus Mundus 60 Agricultural Scientists Forestry Industrial Engineers INFODAL. U. Cork; CNEARC EPTISA, IDOM Postgraduate Seminar Certification in Project Management: Requirements for the

Competence 2 Agricultural Scientists Industrial Engineers Civil Engineers. IDOM Engineering Company CPV-Project Management Company PhD

Sustainable planning and management of Development Projects 60 Agricultural Scientists Forestry Industrial Engineers Mexico Postgraduate School

Table 1: Programmes and subjects of the different degree and postgraduate levels.

All the educational actions of the programmes are based on the method of learning by doing that the UPM’s Department of Projects and Rural Planning and the Madrid Regional Government have been developing since 1989 for advising on the design of Engineering Projects in rural areas (Cazorla, 2006; Cazorla, De los Ríos, 1998, 1996;

www.grupogesplan.es). The degree programme courses -4th and 5th course Project subjects and the Final Degree Course Project- aim to prepare students for a possible IPMA Level D certification (Expert in Project Management).

The Erasmus Mundus Master’s programme (www.agrismundus.eu/agris-mundus/ ) and the

Postgraduate Seminar in Project Management (www.grupogesplan.es) seek to ensure that

those taking part are well-prepared to pass the IPMA Level D certifications, and if they can prove work experience in simple projects they can opt to do Level C (Project Management

Professional). Students with work experience who can prove satisfactory use of the elements of

competence in complex projects will be able to opt for Level B certification (Project Manager). For Level A (Programme Manager or Project Managers) satisfactory use of the elements of competence in programme or portfolio coordination must be proved. It must be borne in mind that education and training cannot replace a person’s having the appropriate level of experience needed to pass the IPMA’s Levels C, B and A certification, which means that at these levels in no case will access be possible without possessing the required experience. Figure 1 shows an outline of these educational cooperation strategy levels aimed at validating

individuals’ competence in project management within the IPMA system. 46 elements of competence for project management are gradually approached. The first training levels look at elements of technical competence, while the postgraduate levels approach the elements of contextual competence, connected with the context of the project and organisation, and the elements of the sphere of behavioural competence related to the attitudes and personal skills required for project management.

Competence

=

Knowledge

+

Experience

+

Attitude

+

Knowledge

International PhD Sustainable Project Planning and Management

Project Subjects UPM Degree 4th Course + 5th Course + Final Degree Course Project

International Master Erasmus Mundus

UPM Master of Science

60 ECTS UPM Postgraduate Seminar Project Management Competence Requirements 1 ECTS

+

WORK EXPERIENCE

IPM

A

c

ert

ificat

ion s

ys

tem

IPM

A

c

ert

ificat

ion s

ys

tem

TE CH NIC AL Co mp ete nce CO NT EX TU AL an d BE HA VIO UR AL Co mp ete nc e

Figure 1: Levels of the training model focused on the development of competencies in project management in line with the IPMA system.

As we have seen, the IPMA proposes a Project Management certification model based on three areas of competence: technical, behavioural and contextual. The following table lists the 46 elements of the three spheres of competence that are gradually approached in the educational cooperation strategy presented.

Grade Postgraduate PhD TRAINING-EDUCATION MODEL COMPETENCES 4th course 5th course Final Degree Course Project E. Mundus Master’s 3 Postgraduate Seminar4 International PhD 1. Technical competences

1.01 Project Management Success 1.02 Interested Parties

1.03 Project requirements & objectives 1.04 Risks & opportunity

1.05 Quality

1.06 Project organisation 1.07 Teamwork

1.08 Problem resolution 1.09 Project structures 1.10 Scope and deliverables 1.11 Time & project phases 1.12 Resources

1.13 Cost & finance

1.14 Procurement & contracts - - - -

1.15 Changes Grade Postgraduate PhD TRAINING-EDUCATION MODEL COMPETENCES 4th course 5th course Final Degree Course Project E. Mundus Master’s 3 Postgraduate Seminar4 International PhD 1. Technical competences

1.16 Control & reports

1.17 Information and documentation 1.18 Communication

1.19 Start-up - -

1.20 Closure

2 Behavioural competencies

2.01 Leadership -

2.02 Engagement & motivation -

2.03 Self-control - - -

2.04 Assertiveness -

2.06 Openness 2.07 Creativity 2.08 Results orientation 2.09 Efficiency 2.10 Consultation 2.11 Negotiation - - -

2.12 Conflicts & crisis 2.13 Reliability 2.14 Values appreciation 2.15 Ethics 3 Contextual competences 3.01 Project orientation 3.02 Programme orientation 3.03 Portfolio orientation - 3.04 Project-programme implementation - 3.05 Permanent organisation - - - 3.06 Business -

3.07 Systems, products and technology

3.08 Personnel management - - - -

3.09 Health, security, safety & environment

3.10 Finance 3.11 Legal

Competence partially developed in the training programme Competence fully developed in the training programme FDCP: Final Degree Course Project;

4. Conclusions

The educational strategy goes back to 1989 as part of the scope of a 5th _{course Project subject}

as part of an agreement with two Engineering Firms IDOM and CPV, with the backing of AEIPRO with the Madrid Regional Government to advise on the design of Engineering Projects in rural areas. During the 2004-05 course, it was validated as a pilot experiment in the UPM within the framework of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). After a new educational innovation project, the following course took a further step by involving one of Mexico’s major postgraduate institutions, the use of ICTs, a system of virtual tutorials and the use of video conferences Educational cooperation was extended to the international sphere by an International Erasmus Mundus Master’s –in cooperation with 6 EU Universities and another 9 from outside the EU- and a joint PhD with the Mexico Postgraduate School. Since 2006 the

strategy has been complemented by a Postgraduate Project Management seminar in collaboration

The educational strategy generates a new teaching dimension, taking the course projects as an

educational component suited to generating a "pre-work experience" within the framework of the EHEA to link teaching activity to the business and industrial environment. 46 elements of

competencies are gradually approached. In the first courses 20 elements of technical competence are taken into account that are basic for managing projects. In the postgraduate levels the sphere of contextual competence is examined in greater detail where 11 elements related to project context and organisation are covered. Finally, within the sphere of behavioural competencies 15 elements are taken into account that cover the attitudes and personal skills required for project management.

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Acknowledgements

We should like to acknowledge the collaboration of the institutions participating in the International Erasmus Mundus project entitled, “Rural Local Development” Master’s Course, of the International PhD between the UPM and the Mexico School of Postgraduates in “Sustainable Planning and Management in Rural-Local Development” and of the postgraduate Seminar, “Certification in Project Management: Requirements for Competence”, for their contribution to the results of the paper.

Correspondence (For more information contact):

Ignacio de los Ríos

GESPLAN (Grupo I+D+i Planificación y Gestión del Desarrollo Rural-Local) GIE-Project. Grupo Innovación Educativa.

Sustainable Development IMR&LD Agris Mundus Director UPM Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Dpto. Proyectos y Planificación Rural. 28040 Madrid. Spain Phone: + 34 (0) 91 336 58 38 / 610 877 699 Fax: + 34 (0) 91 336 58 35 E–mail : [email protected] www.grupogesplan.es www.agrismundus.eu/agris-mundus/