Learning Project Management. The case of further education in Norway

Abstract

To succeed in the international labor market, the competence of the workforce is crucial. The need to continually update competence has put life-long learning to the top of the political and research agenda internationally, and higher education plays a key role in the effort to manage this challenge.

As working life is changing rapidly, so must businesses and the public sector. In a wide range of organizations and industries, project work is now a common practice and a main catalyst for change. Hence, competence in project management is highly wanted, and has resulted in many courses offered by higher educational institutions.

This paper examines the spreading of further education courses on project management and project work offered by public higher educational institutions in Norway. The focus is on which professional fields dominate the teaching of project management and what forms of learning they apply. The study maps the extent to which student active learning is implemented in the course design by looking at which methods of assessment are utilized.

The findings show that the professional fields of business administration as well as engineering and technology dominate teaching in project management and project work. There are also indications of widespread use of student active learning in courses of project management, although it is not consistent and how it is implemented in practice needs further investigation.