Project Management - Differences between R.E.P and accredited by PMI

Hi everyone. I'm helping my friend to ask this question.

She is looking for distance / online graduate programs in Project Management. There are 2 schools she has been considering:

Penn State - MPM
Boston - MS in PM

According to Penn State website, they are registered education provider. But their program is not listed on PMI's Global Assessment Centre as a accredited program.

On the other hand, Boston's program is listed on PMI's GAC, but it is not on the R.E.P. list.

She was wondering what's the difference between both. And which program is more reputable? She is also considering Stanford's Cert in Advanced Project Management. Any advice for her will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

Sorry, I don't know the difference. But I would recommend her to get PMP certification over a Master degree. Cost about $500.00 include textbooks...

 

Well, I'm both a PMP and I did a Ph.D. where my thesis focused on accreditation, so let me take a swing at this. (Oh, and I've led a government agency's corporate university through the process of becoming a R.E.P. with PMI.)

The R.E.P. process is results in a training provider being recognized as delivering project management training sufficient and consistent with PMI's PMBOK (book of knowledge). PMPs (and candidates) who take their training from R.E.P.'s automatically have the resulting professional development units automatically recognized. Otherwise, the PMP (or candidate) must prove the training was sufficient and consistent, a much harder road to hoe.

PMI R.E.P.'s are mostly corporate training providers, but there are also in-house PM training programs recognized (like the one I led through the process) as well as academic degree programs.

PMI's accreditation process is a new one. Designed to recognize academic programs (programmatic accreditation), it might be an attempt by PMI to become the standard bearer for PM academic programs by getting recognized by either CHEA, USDoE, or both. We'll see.

A few years ago, I called them (and DETC) out for accrediting a Ph.D. program at a school that (a) didn't have one and (b) whose institutional accreditation prohibited the award of a Ph.D. I called the school to inquire, and they assured me that the Ph.D. was under development. I checked with Michael Lambert (head of DETC), who checked with the school (who denied it, of course). Michael got back to me and called me a liar. (Dude had never even met me or corresponded with me previously, and that was his take?) This despite the fact that the school was listed at PMI's website as offering the Ph.D. I was stunned, of course, at Lambert's attitude. It wasn't the first time he had acknowledged bending DETC's own rules--you often read about this kind of thing on this board.

Anyway, that's why one school might be a R.E.P. and another might be accredited. But it wouldn't be the other way around. If you're going to strive for accreditation, you're going to get R.E.P. status first. (You submit a pre-recognition application package--huge--and sustain a 1-day site visit from PMI's representatives.)

Getting a PMP is more expensive than Tekman indicates. The fee itself is more than that ($555), plus one must do at least 35 hours of PM training, which can get expensive. Some people take exam prep courses, and then there's the study guides available. It can cost between 700 and several thousand dollars.

 

What is R.E.P.?

 

Hi Rich Douglas, thanks very much. I'll pass the info to my friend. According to your expensive, what would you recommend my friend to begin with?

Self study for CAPM?
Self study for PMP?
Take a cert course in PM?
Take a graduate degree in PM?

She talked to me and we both did some research together, but we couldn't figure out where to begin. Too many options out there and price range is huge!

Ted Heiks, from I was told, R.E.P. is registered education provider.