Exploring the potential of collaboration with U.S. universities to promoting project management

At Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

Japanese companies face an uphill battle to win contracts for large-scale projects overseas. Conventional on-the-job training, long practiced in Japanese corporations, has not produced highly qualified managers and leaders who can handle the demands of today's global business operation in which the dynamics often change rapidly. Therefore, fostering future leaders in earlier stages, such as universities and graduate schools, is urgently required.
Prof. Tetsuya Toma is exploring the potential of collaboration in project management education with overseas universities. Project management education in the U.S. is far more advanced thanks to the achievements of the U.S.-based PMI (Project Management Institute). Prof. Toma is a board member of the Japan chapter of PMI, which publishes "Project Management Body of Knowledge" (PMBOK), a textbook used at SDM that has become the global standard for PM education.
Prof. Toma visited three U.S. universities; Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, and Boston University in Massachusetts. All three are officially recognized as schools with high-quality project management education by the Global Accreditation Center (GAC), a PMI organization. Prof. Toma interviewed professors who had helped their university gain GAC recognition to learn about the process and to investigate the curriculum in use at these universities. Prof. Toma also discussed possible collaboration with their students and professors.

Prof. Poli at Stevens Institute of Technology

Prof. Warburton at Boston University