Project Management Institute (PMI) is a prominent Institute founded in 1969 and provided education for more than 2,9 million specialists worldwide (Learn About PMI, 2016). Focusing on project management, it offers a wide range of certification programs. In particular, the following eight certification types are available to students:
- Project Management Professional (PMP);
- Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP);
- PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP);
- PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA);
- Program Management Professional (PgMP);
- Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM);
- PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP);
- PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP) (Learn About PMI, 2016).
PMI invites everyone to join it through local chapters that are located in plenty of countries all over the world. PMI membership includes such benefits as making new contacts within the global community, sharing visions, and studying with the best resources (Learn About PMI, 2016). Professional development opportunities at PMI are great as the Institute advances careers and enhances organizational performance. Moreover, it follows global standards to meet modern requirements and prepare the best professionals. Striving to ensure internationally recognized standards, PMI regularly conducts various surveys and investigations. In other words, the library of standards established at PMI continues to grow and become more comprehensive. Volunteers, experts, and those who are interested in the topic collaborate to come to a consensus and enhance project standards.
Speaking of tools and templates that assist students’ learning at PMI, it is essential to pinpoint both virtual and live education. E-learning is provided to students in the context of globalization that tends to integrate the world community. Online courses offer comfortable learning that might be received anywhere and anytime (Training & Development, 2016). Students are free to select courses by topics and read preliminary information concerning the course nature and content. Furthermore, education at PMI supposes attending various webinars that allow making considerable contributions to the projects. A Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.) is another tool to learn more effectively (Training & Development, 2016). It is an approved training organization providing continuous support to PMI credential holders. It is also possible to request a training in a group in case the student prefers such a form of education. Also, students might attend employer-sponsored or company-sponsored programs.
PMI members possess access to huge resources including PMI publications, databases, guides, and templates. The latter compose more than 1,000 patterns on ProjectManagement.com designed to save time and effort (Training & Development, 2016). There are both deliverable and electronic templates available to PMI members. Project Management Tool Finder presents another beneficial tool to find the necessary resource or application that will simplify the project work (Training & Development, 2016). It should be emphasized that the mentioned tool has several search options such as search by platform, keywords, categories, and features. In turn, it makes the learning process faster and more efficient.
Among the requirements to sit for the PMP exam, one might note the two focal points: project management education and project management experience (Learn About PMI, 2016). In particular, PMP eligibility requirements include a high school diploma, its global equivalent, or a four-year degree. It is required to have 7,500 hours of leading and directing projects if candidates have a secondary degree or 3,500 hours of experience if they have a four-year degree (Learn About PMI, 2016). Thus, candidates should have experience in delivering, leading, and directing multifunctional groups.
References
Learn About PMI. (2016). Web.
Training & Development. (2016). Web.