Gauteng-based project managers who would like to upgrade their skills should book soon to secure their places on the Faculty Training Institute's (FTI's) part-time Diploma in Project Management, being offered in Sunninghill from 22 February.
"The course is aimed specifically at mid-career professionals who are taking on a project management role for the first time or have done so fairly recently," says course co-ordinator and lecturer Professor Derek Smith of FTI. "It's a very practical course with a strong emphasis on workplace assignments that enable students to practise their new skills on real problems."
This approach is still unusual in South Africa, he says. "There is almost no training, apart from some excellent management programmes, aimed at reskilling people who are moving into new knowledge roles in their careers. Apart from the fact that most mid-career professionals couldn't afford to go back to university even if they wanted to, university courses are too theoretical and lecture-based. The Diploma in Project Management aims to bridge that gap."
Although the course does emphasise IT project management, says Smith, it is relevant to most business projects and is aligned to the Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge.
The six-month course covers communication and people management as well as hard project management skills including the management of time, cost, scope, risk, quality, procurement and project integration.
"We meet only once a week to make sure students have the time to absorb knowledge and test it in the workplace," says Smith. "To get value out of the training, people need to be able to apply what they learn in the classroom to real situations as soon as possible."
Smith says the six-month diploma, as opposed to a series of short courses, "allow students to immerse themselves in a well designed, intensive learning programme, so they can use all their skills in an integrated way. Short courses are an effective way to teach isolated skills, but not to learn a new job."
The benefit of the six-month diploma, he says, is that "the delegate actually grows on the course, in confidence and ability. We can see them becoming more comfortable with the tools of their trade. These are true developmental courses."
The course is also taught by Professor Johan Smit, formerly of the Department of Information Systems at the University of Pretoria and a well-known academic, consultant, executive coach and presenter.
FTI will run two project management diploma courses in Gauteng during 2007, starting in February and June. Individuals interested in attending the course, or companies that would like to send employees, should contact Genevieve Claassen of FTI at (021) 683 4506, or by e-mail at gen@fti.co.za.
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Faculty Training Institute (FTI) is a private training company that specialises in offering world-class career-oriented training courses for professional knowledge workers, mainly in the corporate world. Focusing on mid-career rather than entry-level training, FTI specialises in project management, business analysis, systems analysis, software engineering, IT management, and e-business training. It offers a variety of training options including public or in-house, part-time or full-time courses.
FTI was founded in 1989 by five experienced lecturers from the Department of Information Systems at the University of Cape Town, who perceived a gap between the technical or entry-level training offered by most private training companies, and the longer degree programmes offered by tertiary institutions. During the past 17 years FTI has expanded its successful product offerings from the initial two Diploma courses into growing range of diplomas and short courses that serve the career needs of corporate South Africa.
In October 2006 FTI was awarded Charter Endorsed Education Provider status with the International Institute for Business Analysis. It is one of a handful of training organisations worldwide that have achieved this status.
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