Best Accredited Project Management MBA Degree Programs

Business runs on schedules and many corporate environments are designed around team-oriented work models. Project managers coordinate almost every aspect of business depending on the needs of their company. But business and industry expand and require advanced skills among their management staff. Business schools have developed innovative degree programs that bridge gaps between sectors of business management, such as the MBA in Project Management. Narrow-minded business professionals that work on opposing strategies provide no value to a company. However, combine the best of both skill-sets and there is instead a fully formed, global business professional with a wide scope of vision.

Degree Prerequisites

Students admitted to a specialized MBA program are typically required to have a four-year degree and work experience in the field. Good academic scores and career motivation are necessary. Most accredited MBA programs also require the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). Ideally candidates will pursue upper level project management jobs in the public or private sector and in some cases even in overseas business.

MBA Fundamentals

The MBA core curriculum is one of the most desirable in business. In fact most business managers are encouraged to return to school if they are without an MBA. The preponderance of online and part-time degree programs is due in large part to the demands of working professionals. As flexible as these degree programs are they still lack the experiential opportunities found in many traditional full-time programs. Full-time MBAs often participate in internships or their curriculum is part of a balanced co-operative educational model that divides time between practical work experience and classroom theory.

Regardless of type of program general MBA coursework incorporates advanced business topics such as: management strategies and team leadership, finance and accounting, marketing and e-commerce strategies, cost management, corporate governance, and organizational behavior. Auxiliary courses that may be applicable to students include psychology and sociology, and foreign language skills.

Project Management Concentration

MBAs with additional and high-level project management skills are valuable assets to a business management team. Add in the project management curriculum to the MBA fundamentals and entry-level project managers with short-sighted strategies are supplanted by ultra-specialized managers with long-term goals and a wide field of vision. Advanced project management topics include: organizational strategies, team management and development, management of information systems, and project analysis.

Project managers exist throughout business and industry and even more granular course electives offer specialization, such as Information Technology and International Business.

Career Opportunities

Alarming rates of change exist at all levels of business. Change precludes the need for skilled and innovative project managers. This is a field without a shortage of jobs and adjunct opportunities exist in project-heavy information technology and in international business.