News Story

Project Management Degrees Accredited

The Project Management Institute (PMI) has accredited three Clark School graduate degrees.

This is the first time that degrees from an engineering school-based project management program have been so accredited. Only three other U.S. schools and two foreign schools offer accredited project management degrees; none of them are engineering schools.

The degrees included in the accreditation are the Master of Science in Civil Engineering, the Master of Engineering in Project Management, and the Doctorate of Philosophy in Civil Engineering. These degrees are offered through the Clark School's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which also delivers a full array of highly regarded undergraduate engineering programs accredited by the Accreditation Board of Engineering & Technology (ABET).

Accreditation of its courses by PMI means that in the same way employers trust the engineering skills of Clark School graduates, they can put equal faith in their project management abilities.

"The scope, depth and quality of the programs at the A. James Clark School are certainly impressive," said Mike Price, director of education programs at PMI. "And as the first PMI GAC accredited programs within a college of engineering, they are leading the way in incorporating the project management discipline into the engineering curriculum."

Accreditation by PMI is achieved through a rigorous screening process that begins with a thorough self-study of an institution’s project management program, followed by a report the school submits to the PMI GAC. If that report is approved, a team of professionals conducts a site visit, and in turn submits a final recommendation to the GAC.

Full press release available.

February 14, 2006