This month’s post is a deep dive into the opportunities and challenges of project management (and establishing PMO’s) in HEI’s (Higher Education Institutions). Based on a study held at Drexel University, this paper by Chanelle Austin and Winifred Browne uncovers some insights about the adoption value and strategic application of project management at Universities. It also discusses some specific issues higher ed institutions face when implementing project management versus other industries.

 

Key takeaways include:

• How higher education institutions can benefit from having formal project management methodology or a central PMO

• PMO’s contribution to the organizational performance can be seen as the result of multiple coexisting values within an organization

• Project Management may be viewed as “too corporate” of a way to make decisions, yet this is changing within higher education due to the need to be more effective

• Project management can help Universities increase efficiency in increasingly competitive environments

 

The full paper is available to read online or you can download it here in PDF format.