All 2U/edX courses Overview What you'll learn Modules FAQs

Overview

The University of Cape Town's (UCT) foundational course in project management is designed to equip you with the essential skills and knowledge you need to effectively manage projects in any company. The UCT Project Management Foundations online short course is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to enhance their ability to plan, coordinate, and manage projects successfully. Over 10 weeks, you'll be immersed in learning how to manage projects efficiently, ensuring they are completed on time and within budget. The course is enriched with insights from industry experts, offering exposure to a range of popular project management tools and techniques. It provides a thorough understanding of the project lifecycle, covering everything from initiation to scheduling and reporting.

This course gives you a solid foundation in the principles and practices of modern project management. You'll delve into creating a work breakdown structure and learn to draft essential project documents such as the project charter, scope statements, and stakeholder analyses. A key focus of the course is on risk identification and management, as well as the effective assessment of project schedules and budgets. You'll also dive into the importance of forecasting potential challenges and their impact on a project's timeline, cost, scope, and quality.

Beyond the technical aspects, this UCT online short course also highlights the value of effective communication with teams, partners, and stakeholders, and the application of value management techniques in projects. Upon completion, you'll have a comprehensive understanding of project management best practices and be better equipped to communicate effectively with various groups involved in a project.

This online course is ideal for those aspiring to enter the project management industry. Professionals already managing projects will be able to refine their skills and deepen their industry knowledge. Operations managers, supervisors, and managing directors can also benefit significantly from adding project management capabilities to their current management practices.

What you'll learn

Acquire valuable and relevant project management skills, and walk away with:

• Enhanced project management skills to adeptly handle essential requirements including project scope, risk, time, and costs
• Strengthened project management competencies, particularly the ability to identify challenges and optimise processes for the effective management of project teams
• A comprehensive set of project management soft skills, fostering improved team coordination and project delivery
• A prestigious certificate from UCT, validating your newly acquired project management skills and capabilities
• Exclusive access to edX’s Career Engagement Network, providing a wealth of resources and events tailored to advance your professional growth

Modules

ORIENTATION MODULE Welcome to your Online Campus.
Meet and engage with your learning and peer networks as you navigate the Online Campus.

MODULE 1 Introduction to project management.
Learn about the various aspects involved in project management.

MODULE 2 Getting started: Identifying stakeholders and initiating a project.
Learn how to identify the key stakeholders in a project and how to define the scope of a product.

MODULE 3 Managing risk.
Gain an understanding of risk within the context of a project. 

MODULE 4 Work breakdown structure.
Learn about the work breakdown structure as a tool for breaking down a project into its component parts.

MODULE 5 Realistic scheduling and accurate estimating.
Explore the importance of accurately estimating the time and money a project requires to support good business decision-making.

MODULE 6 Understanding cost, time, and scope.
Examine issues of efficiency and productivity and how to get the most out of a project with the resource limitations of a given project.

MODULE 7 Managing a project team.
Create a high-performance team framework and learn how group dynamics can affect a project’s success or failure.

MODULE 8 Clear communication among project stakeholders.
Explore the importance of communication as a key factor in all successful projects. 

MODULE 9 Measuring progress and solving common problems.
Minimise additional costs and delays by identifying and addressing problems timeously.

MODULE 10 Advancing your practice of project management.
Examine different opportunities for individuals and organisations to improve their practice of project management.

FAQs: Project Manager Career Path