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Project Management Certificate Program

Program at a Glance

  • 6 courses
  • Online
  • $5,610-$6,725
  • Eligible for VA Benefits
  • Included on the Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL), as approved by Yolo County

Practical Training for the Modern Workforce

UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education’s online Project Management Certificate Program is the convenient, affordable solution for receiving the education and skills you need to succeed as a project manager.

What You’ll Learn

All courses in the Project Management Certificate Program are approved by UC Davis Graduate School of Management. UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education has also been reviewed and approved as a provider of project management training by the Project Management Institute (PMI®).

This rigorous, reality-based program is designed to give working professionals the practical knowledge, tools and techniques that can be applied in their jobs the very next day. You’ll learn how to:

  • Effectively manage project lifecycles
  • Identify, develop, communicate with and manage a high-performance team
  • Utilize tools and techniques to understand and control project schedules and cost variances
  • Manage procurement
  • Institute quality management measures to enhance the end product and reduce costs

What You’ll Get

Our program offers:

  • A convenient, online format
  • Personal interaction with experienced instructors who are PMP® credential holders
  • Unique networking opportunities with instructors and fellow students
  • Practical knowledge and current best practices that can be applied immediately to your business or job
  • Career placement assistance through our partner, TEKSystems

Fast Track

Save 15% on the cost of the Project Management Certificate by enrolling in the Fast Track option. Learn more.

*Project Management Institute, PMI, Project Management Professional, PMP, Certified Associate in Project Management, CAPM, and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

  • $90,337 is the average salary for a project manager (Glassdoor)
  • 22 million new project-oriented jobs will be created between 2017 and 2027
  • Sectors where the newest, project-oriented job openings are projected to be created through 2027:
    • Manufacturing and construction
    • Information services and publishing
    • Finance and insurance
    • Management and professional services
    • Utilities
    • Oil and gas

(Source: PMI’s 2018 Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap report)

This program requires completion of 17.5 required units of designated online course work with a grade of “C” or better.

Courses in this program count towards educational credit required to take the PMI PMP® Certification exam. If you’re already PMP certified, UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education courses offer the PDU credit you need to retain certification.

Course content is frequently revised to ensure that the program is up-to-date with the latest industry standards. For this reason, you must complete all of the course requirements of your certificate within five years from the day you enroll in the first course. A certificate will not be awarded if the requirements are not completed and your application for candidacy is not received within this timeframe.

For additional information about our enrollment policies, please click here.

Please note: Foundations of Successful Project Management is the recommended prerequisite for all other courses in this program.

Required Courses

Foundations of Successful Project Management
Quarter Academic Credit
3

Project management is a high-value skill that is in demand across all industries. This course is designed for anyone interested in learning the foundational skills of project management. This may include current project coordinators, business analysts, or anyone who finds themselves overseeing special assignments in their daily work. Through pre-recorded lectures and interactive, instructor-led webinar sessions, this course lays the foundation for creating a project plan, work breakdown structure (WBS), schedule, budget and communication plan. Learners will also practice resource management, identifying and managing risk, and understanding the project quality and procurement processes. Course curriculum is based on the project lifecycles, standards and methodologies developed by the Project Management Institute (PMI®). At the end of this course, students will understand the core fundamentals of project management from project initiation to project scope.

Learning Outcomes

  • Develop plans to initiate and manage a project
  • Describe and plan a project scope and collect project requirements
  • Identify organizational structures and define the project lifecycle
  • Create a work breakdown structure (WBS) to organize the team's work into manageable sections
  • Manage constraints of the project scope, budget and schedule to ensure smooth management of the project and expected outcomes

Skills You Will Gain

  • Project management plan development
  • Project scope development and requirement gathering
  • Work break down structure (WBS)
  • Risk and resource management
  • Analytical thinking and problem solving
Course Code
501136
Establishing Higher Functioning Project Teams and Managing Resources
Quarter Academic Credit
3

Projects are accomplished by human resources, and effective project managers must know how to manage people to develop the best teams to accomplish an organization’s goals. Intended for anyone who wishes to learn how to effectively manage project teams, this course addresses the PMBOK knowledge areas of Human Resource Management, Communication Management and Stakeholder Management. Through interactive lectures, hands-on assignments and real-world case studies, students will learn the skills required to successfully run a project, including leadership, emotional intelligence, communication and more. By the end of this course, students will be able to develop comprehensive human resource and communication plans, manage stakeholder expectations, and analyze and report on individual and team performance to achieve project success.

Learning Outcomes

  • Use four communication styles to effectively manage a cross-functional project management team
  • Motivate a project team by creating a culture that breeds team building, decision-making and success
  • Use emotional intelligence to assess yourself and project team members, and overcome team adversity, conflict and setbacks
  • Develop a communication plan and manage communication across project teams and stakeholders
  • Analyze, report and improve project team performance

Skills You Will Gain

  • Human resource management
  • Communication
  • Facilitative leadership
  • Stakeholder management
Course Code
501137
Mastering Project Time and Cost Management
Quarter Academic Credit
4

Time and cost are the two near-universal constraints organizations face when initiating and managing projects, which makes the effective supervision of these factors a required skill for any project manager. This course is for professionals who plan, manage and control projects and anyone interested in learning the latest project management tools and methods for developing and monitoring project schedules and budgets. Through an interactive, online learning environment, students will learn how to estimate activity durations, dependencies between activities, estimating resource requirements, and how to define the critical path and chain to enable you to develop a realistic project schedule. Students will also learn how to use Earned Value Management (EVM) to understand schedule and cost variances, and design recovery techniques to get projects back on track. By the end of this course, students will have the tools necessary to complete projects successfully within allocated time and costs.

Learning Outcomes

  • Estimate project activity durations and costs
  • Establish resource requirements
  • Perform network diagramming techniques, determine the critical path and critical chain
  • Determine project schedule status, schedule and cost variances
  • Apply project schedule and budget recovery techniques

Skills You Will Gain

  • Scheduling and time management
  • Cost estimation, management and budgeting
  • Earned Value Management
  • Forecasting project performance
Course Code
501138
Navigating Project Procurement
Quarter Academic Credit
2

Most projects require products, services or results from suppliers outside the organization, a process known as procurement management. The outcomes of projects are in part determined by the scope, quality and timeliness of the supplied deliverables. This course is for project management professionals seeking guidance in the details and management of the logistics of procurement and use of resources and services used in projects. Through online, interactive learning with real-world examples, students will explore procurement management processes such as make-or-buy analysis, identifying qualified vendors, writing a procurement statement of work, selecting a contract type, evaluating proposals and managing change requests, as well as ethical issues and negotiation strategies. At the end of this course, students will know how to integrate procurement management concepts with broader project management practices in order to produce better project outcomes.

Learning Outcomes

  • Prepare a procurement statement of work (SOW)
  • Explain when to use each contract type
  • Categorize mandatory and desirable qualifications and identify the source selection criteria that will be used to evaluate potential sellers
  • Plan an effective negotiation strategy and identify the steps required to closeout a procurement contract
  • Apply techniques for controlling a vendor-led project

Skills You Will Gain

  • Procurement management
  • Contract type selection
  • Source selection and evaluation
  • Forecasting project performance
  • Negotiation
Course Code
501140
Controlling Quality in Project Management
Quarter Academic Credit
2.5

Organizations are constantly implementing quality management programs to improve the quality of their goods and services, reduce costs and increase productivity. This course is intended for project management professionals and anyone interested in learning the latest tools and methods for ensuring project quality. Through online lectures and interactive examinations of real-world case studies, students will learn how quality management concepts integrate with project management practices to create a system that delivers on three key concepts: customer satisfaction, prevention over inspection and continuous improvement. Students will explore a variety of quality management processes, such as identifying customer requirements, cost- benefit analysis, benchmarking, cause and effect diagrams and more. By the end of the course, students will be able to apply these concepts in order to achieve better results for their projects.

Learning Outcomes

  • Apply quality management concepts and processes
  • Create a quality management plan to implement project quality
  • Apply quality planning, assurance and control concepts

Skills You Will Gain

  • Project quality management
  • Quality control
  • Quality assurance
  • Project processes analysis
Course Code
501139
Managing Project Risk and Integration
Quarter Academic Credit
3

Risks are bound to occur on any project, and can have serious consequences for a project’s scope, schedule, cost and quality. Designed for current and aspiring project management professionals, this course will teach students how an effective project manager identifies, analyzes, plans and controls project risks. Through interactive lectures and real-world case studies, students will interpret and analyze how project risk management integrates into project management methodology, techniques, tools and artifacts such as the project charter, project management plan and the stakeholder register. Furthermore, students will also gain a comprehension of how to draft and actively monitor a risk management plan and risk register over the course of a real project. By the end of this course, students will understand how to construct a change management plan, project closure workbook and other key project artifacts, and be able to apply these tools to their projects.

Learning Outcomes

  • Define, identify and create a system for implementing project risk management
  • Implement project risk management monitoring and control to projects
  • Utilize tools and techniques for managing project risks
  • Identify and create a system for implementing project change management in a project
  • Apply project integration management techniques by using the PMBOK project integration management framework

Skills You Will Gain

  • Risk management
  • Project integration management
  • Change management
Course Code
501141

Please note: Foundations of Successful Project Management is the recommended prerequisite for all other courses in this program.

View courses currently open for enrollment

Required Courses

Required Courses Units Fall Winter Spring Summer
Foundations of Successful Project Management 3 Online Online Online Online
Establishing Higher Functioning Project Teams and Managing Resources 3 Online Online
Mastering Project Time and Cost Management 4 Online Online
Navigating Project Procurement 2 Online Online
Controlling Quality in Project Management 2.5 Online Online
Managing Project Risk and Integration 3 Online Online
  • At Your Own Pace: Take individual courses for a total cost of $6,725 (or $1,100 per course).
    • A one-time, non-refundable registration fee of $125 must also be paid in order to receive your certificate.
  • Fast Track: Pay $5,610 in full at the time of enrollment and save over $1,115 on the cost of the program. The $125 registration fee is also waived. Please note that the Fast Track option is not available if paying with VA benefits. Learn more.
  • Textbooks are not included in the cost of tuition.

For information about financing your education, please click here.

Ready to advance your career? Pick the option that best suits your needs and your lifestyle:

  • Register. Fill out a brief certificate registration form and pay the registration fee. By doing so, you declare your intent to complete the program and lock in current program requirements. If you have questions about your course plan or next steps, please email us.
  • Fast Track. Enroll in our Project Management Fast Track Certificate Program and we’ll waive your $125 registration fee and a program advisor will be made available to you to help you map out your academic path.
  • Enroll in an individual course. Check out individual courses that are currently open for enrollment. Courses will be applied to the certificate program if you later decide to complete your certificate. All program coursework must be completed within a 5-year period.
  • Sign up for an information session. Learn more about the program by enrolling in a free information session. If an information session for this program is not currently open for enrollment, click on “notify me,” and we’ll contact you when the next one becomes available.

Questions? We’re here to help. If you’ve got a question, email us or call (530) 757-8777.

Access free career resources. Our students have free access to tools for career planning, resume writing, interview practice and more.