Meeting the competency expectations of the project management community in degree programs

This study uses a quantitative, non-experimental research approach that focused on project management competencies (knowledge and skills). The purpose of this study was to determine what leaders in the project management field expect from recent graduates of project management bachelor's master's, and doctoral degree programs. These graduates should be able to execute project management competencies at what level of performance? The three levels of performance developed and used in the study were: L1 Knowledge, where the project manager has a basic understanding of the competency but requires mentoring and supervision; L2 Application, where the project manager fully understands the competency but still requires supervision; and L3 Mastery, where the project manager is expected to perform the competency without supervision and produce a high quality outcome. A total of 81 project management competencies were identified after an extensive literature review and a new survey instrument was derived to measure the preferred level of performance for each of the competencies by degree level. An analysis of the results indicates strong support for the mastery level of performance as the preferred performance level for project management competencies. This is a fundamental shift in the educational paradigm for project managers. Leaders in the project management field expect graduates from these programs to perform at the mastery level of performance. Colleges and universities can evaluate their project management programs based on the results of this study to confirm their curricula contain the competencies at the level of performance expected by leaders in the project management field.