Online Microcredential in Business & Management

Business Management: Project Management

Develop in-demand project management skills and take your career to the next level, with The Open University.

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The Open UniversityThe Open University

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Discover essential project management tools and techniques to help you succeed

The skills to manage a project are becoming increasingly important across all sectors. The ability to effectively deliver a project can set you apart from your peers and help you stand out in your organisation.

This microcredential will introduce you to the core principles, tools, and techniques needed to lead, or successfully contribute to, projects that add value and deliver positive outcomes.

Gain the knowledge and confidence to deliver successful projects

Whether you’re already involved in projects or looking to move into a project management role, this microcredential will help you get to grips with the fundamentals and how to apply them to a project with confidence.

You’ll learn to scope, plan and manage a project, from business case right through to delivery. You’ll develop skills which allow you to successfully anticipate challenges and opportunities, manage risk, communicate effectively with your team, and gain the trust and respect of stakeholders. You’ll also be able to understand key principles such as justifying investment, validating project viability, and delivering value.

Develop practical project management skills you can use straight away

You will learn critical planning and decision-making skills, be able to demonstrate a sound grasp of project management terminology, and understand the roles and responsibilities within a project team.

Through insightful examples from experienced project managers and academic experts, you’ll gain an understanding of how different tools, techniques, and frameworks for both planning and managing projects can be applied. You’ll learn how to scale these for different types and size of organisation, ensuring your learnings will remain useful and valuable as you progress through your career.

Throughout the course, you’ll be actively encouraged to apply your new skills to your own work, so you can immediately put your learning into practice and add value to your work and organisation.

Learn from experts using the Association for Project Management’s (APM) Body of Knowledge

Created by qualified chartered project and programme experts from The Open University’s Business School, this microcredential is aligned with the APM Body of Knowledge 7th Edition (although it is not accredited by APM or intended as an exam preparation course).

The social and collaborative style of learning means that you will be able to share your experiences with a diverse group of learners on the course, bringing a wider selection of thoughts and ideas to the table. You’ll enjoy an engaging variety of content including videos from successful project managers in the field who will share their learnings and expertise with you.

The Open University’s Business School has vast experience in the delivery of online business modules, in fact it is one of only 100 business schools in the world to hold the ‘triple crown’ of triple-accredited status with EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA. Fewer than 1% of all business schools worldwide have been awarded this accreditation.

Please note, if you have completed other OU short courses - Project Management, Business Fundamentals: Project Management or Project Management: Beyond the Basics, you may notice some familiarity in the topics covered. This is because they align with global project management principles, however, there is no duplication of content. This microcredential goes much further into the subject matter, equipping you with a more comprehensive, deeper understanding of concepts and their application.

Throughout the course you’ll take part in weekly activities to support and consolidate your learning. At the end of the course, you’ll submit an assessment which is marked and graded with personalised feedback, by subject matter experts.

Discover more of The Open University’s Business and Management microcredentials – designed to provide you with key leadership and management skills that will set you up for career success.

Choose from Fundamentals of Management Accounting, Financial Accounting for Non-Financial Roles, Marketing Principles and Practice, Improving Organisational Practice, and People Management and Leadership.

Industry statistics

  • Median base salary

    £39,000
  • UK job openings/month

    7,320

What skills will you learn?

  • Stakeholder management
  • Risk management
  • Planning and scheduling
  • Balancing scope, time and quality
  • Project leadership and teamwork
  • Preparing a business case
  • Resource management
  • Communication

What you will achieve

By the end of the microcredential, you’ll be able to...

  • Explain project management terminology and key concepts
  • Identify risks and issues and evaluate solutions
  • Lead a project team for success
  • Assess and plan a project
  • Lead stakeholder and project team relationships
  • Collect, analyse and interpret data to inform project management decisions.

Are you eligible for this microcredential?

This is an introductory course, suitable for anyone interested in project management. No previous qualifications or experience of running a project are necessary although experience of being part of a project team would be beneficial.

The course material does not assume that learners are currently working. Past experiences will be just as relevant.

The course draws on practical examples from many industries. It has a global focus and delivers transferable skills for diverse sectors and organisations.

Is this microcredential right for you?

This microcredential would benefit anyone currently working in a project management environment or in a role that contributes to projects.

In particular, it will help:

  • Project managers and leads who lack formal qualifications
  • Professionals who are new to project management
  • Professionals who would like to broaden their business management skillset
  • Junior professionals who would like to progress to management level
  • Self-employed professionals looking to develop project management skills

Syllabus

What happens before, during, and after your microcredential

  • Before learning

    You’ll have access to our online welcome area where you’ll be able to read any information relating to your microcredential.

  • Course

    From 8 Jul 2024

    Business Management: Project Management

    Develop effective project management skills and take your career to the next level, with The Open University.

    10 weeks

    10 hours per week

  • After learning

    Your submitted assessment will be marked and graded by subject matter experts and you’ll also receive personalised feedback on your work. You’ll continue to have ongoing access to the course materials.

What you will receive

10 UK credits at Undergraduate level from The Open University and a Certificate

Academic credits are awarded on passing the final assessment. These will be at undergraduate level 6 of the Framework for Higher Education (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) / level 10 of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.

Find out how credits work and where you can use them in our FAQs.

What is a microcredential?

Microcredentials are designed to upskill you for work in rapidly-growing industries, without the time and cost commitment of a full degree. Your microcredential can stand alone as an independent credential, and some also offer academic credit to use towards a degree.

Learn online with expert instructors

Complete online courses led by experts over multiple weeks with a dedicated group of professionals.

Complete project-based assessments

Test your understanding with online tutor-marked assessments and exercises.

Earn a professional credential

Finish your learning and pass your assessments to gain an accredited credential.

Advance further in your career

Use your microcredential as evidence of your specialised skills and progress further in your industry.

Career-focused learning by The Open University

As the UK’s largest university, The Open University (OU) supports thousands of students to achieve their goals and ambitions via supported distance learning, helping to fit learning around professional and personal life commitments.

  • Established

    1969
  • Location

    Milton Keynes, UK
  • World ranking

    Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020

Delivered by experts

Tom is a project and programme management consultant and lecturer. He is an APM Chartered Project Professional with experience in complex change initiatives impacting operations, processes and people.

Jean is an Open University Associate Lecturer in Project Management, Change Leadership and Research. She is an International Director for Toastmasters International.

Tariq is an associate lecturer on the Open University's apprenticeship programmes (MBA, Diploma, BSc). He has teaching and research interests in Business Intelligence applied in Project Management.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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When would you like to start?

We aim to run our microcredentials every few months. Join on the date that suits you or register to hear about future runs and updates.

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FAQ

We can accept payments made by card (Visa, Mastercard and American Express) or PayPal via our online system.

You will have 14 days from the day the course starts to apply for a refund. If this Microcredential has any non-refundable costs they will be stated in the ‘Overview’ section above. You can find more information in our cancellation and refund policy.

Microcredentials are designed to fit around your life and timezone.

There may be live events as part of your studies, but these will be recorded and can be watched afterwards if you aren’t online for the live broadcast.

No, microcredentials are designed to be taken anywhere in the world. You won’t need the right to study in the country where the university offering the microcredential is based.

Microcredentials are stand-alone courses designed to meet specific learner and employer needs. Those awarded by The Open University have academic credit value at either undergraduate or postgraduate level, and, if appropriate, this may be used towards selected Open University qualifications. For more details, including eligible qualifications, visit The Open University’s Counting microcredentials towards OU qualifications page.

The credit awarded may potentially be used at another university, subject to the agreement of the receiving institution.

Want to know more? Read the microcredential FAQs, or contact us.