Project Management Schools

A career in project management is perfect for people with strong leadership skills, good communication, and excellent time management. Most project managers also have several years of experience working in a specific field and choose to naturally progress into a leadership position.

To make the transition and become a successful project manager (PM for those in the know), you’ll need to level-up your skills in several areas including task management, the Agile framework, and Scrum methodologies.

There are various project management schools geared around helping you achieve success. In this article, we’ll take a look at your options.

Our List of Project Management Schools and Bootcamps

To help you get started in acquiring the required skills and knowledge, we’ve put together a list of the  top project management schools out there:

Thinkful

We provide a technical project management course in two formats – full-time and part-time.

Our full-time project management bootcamp is an online program that takes three months to complete. You'll be taught how to leverage the tools used by top tech companies. The program is project-based with an emphasis on practical, hands-on learning. During the course, you’ll work in teams to complete real-life projects that you can add to your professional portfolio. The up-to-date curriculum is taught using a combination of workshops, online classes, and practical exercises.

You’ll also receive expert one-on-one mentoring and career coaching from our dedicated team. To boost your chances of landing a top PM role, we’ll even help you with your job search and interview prep.

The program is divided into three phases:

• Process – In the first phase of the program, you’ll dive straight into planning and developing projects. You’ll  learn budgeting, scheduling, resource allocation, and troubleshooting.  This phase also covers system development life cycles. The aim is to teach you the working practices of the top players in the project management field.
• People – The second phase of the program is all about communication, conflict management, and leadership. You'll be trained on how to communicate, initiate plans, and mediate as and when necessary. You’ll also learn how to motivate teams.
• Technology – In the third and final phase of the program, you'll learn all about the tools required to make it as a successful technical project manager. You'll be trained on hardware, software, and the ways to integrate them. At the end of this phase, you'll be able to create business solutions with the help of information systems.

The Technical Project Management Immersion program costs $9,000 and there are five payment options to choose from:

• Income Share Agreement – You pay nothing upfront, and a fixed monthly payment once you land a job.
• Income Share Agreement with Living Stipend – You get a stipend of $1,500 per month which you pay back after the course, in addition to the ISA payment plan.
• Month to Month – You pay $3,333 per month for the duration of the course.
• Loan – You can apply for a loan with SkillsFund to help you cover tuition.
• Upfront – You pay $9,000 when you enroll.

Our other part-time project management program is designed to work around your schedule. It’s perfect for working professionals or busy individuals with other commitments.

To give you an extra confidence boost when you enroll, we also offer a refund guarantee. If you don’t get a job within six months of graduating, you get your tuition back.

Manhattan College

Small  projects sometimes don't require extensive planning, but can still  benefit from powerful project management techniques. Manhattan College designed its project management course for these types of projects.

The program starts by introducing you to the fundamentals of project management and common pitfalls encountered, and eventually moves on to the five stages of the project life cycle.  

By the end of the course, you'll understand the importance of project management in small businesses, be able to create a project plan, and understand project life cycle stages.

The course costs $79 and is self-paced. The program features an ask-the-expert session where you can submit questions that are answered by experts in the field.  

University of California, Berkeley

This course provides a step-by-step introduction to the processes involved in project management. It teaches you the basics of running a project and why project management is important. You’ll learn about the roles and responsibilities of project managers and major aspects of the project management process.

By the end of the course, you'll be able to apply everything you’ve learned to successfully create project plans, deliver results, and close projects.

The entire program is held online, with no live sessions. However, there are some opportunities to collaborate with your peers. The course costs $995 and has fixed start and end dates.

University of California, Irvine

UCI Division of Continuing Education offers a professional project  management certificate designed to get you up to speed with trending PM  skills.

The course starts by introducing you to the fundamentals of project management. You'll learn about the different metrics used to measure success and how to create an informed project schedule.

The third module of the program is about executing project plans, while the fourth deals with the practical application of everything you've learned throughout the course.

The program provides you with the  opportunity to take part in virtual sessions led by instructors. Your  projects will be reviewed by experts, who will provide you with their feedback. You can also apply for career coaching services.

By the end of the course, you'll be equipped with all the skills and knowledge required for the Project Management Institute’s Project Management Professional (PMP) credential and take the PMP exam. You’ll also be awarded a Professional Certificate by the University of California and receive 12 units of academic credit.

The course takes 6 months to complete (each module takes 6 weeks) and costs $777. You can pay upfront for all four modules and receive a discount of $128.

Start Your Education Now

If you’d like to learn more about exciting opportunities in the world of project management, browse our project management blog. We’ve done the research for you and decided whether project management degrees are worth it, and how to get hired as a project manager.

We also provide career guidance on a range of other in-demand fields such as software engineering, digital marketing, and sales development.