Advanced Professional Project Management Course

Overview

Advance your knowledge of project management and learn to develop successful business cases, forecasts and stakeholder strategies. Developed by Project Management Consultant Sean Whitaker 

Are you a project manager looking to deepen your understanding of key frameworks or an experienced leader looking for your next professional development? Advance your career as a professional project manager through our flexible online learning. 

You’ll practice techniques to manage multiple projects or programmes as well as how to develop culturally responsive strategies in line with Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi). Develop your understanding of leadership and forecasting, explore some methodologies such as Agile, and learn to build your own bespoke project methodology that works for your practice. 

Exploring real examples of projects in action, you’ll learn how to apply advanced project management skills to your own practice. 

If you’re new to project management, our Professional Project Management course is designed for you to gain the fundamental skills you need. If you already have knowledge and experience as a project manager or have completed that course and want to deepen your practice, we’d recommend going straight into this course.

This course is ideal for

• People who have completed Professional Project Management and are looking to deepen their skills and understanding 
• Project managers looking for professional development
• Experienced managers looking for the next step 
• Any professionals managing projects and portfolios across marketing and communications, construction, engineering, health, IT and more
• People managers and team leaders with substantial experience

What you'll learn

• Deeper knowledge of terminology, tools, and techniques used by the Aotearoa New Zealand project management profession
• How to apply the frameworks and methodologies to your projects
• Practical techniques to manage and coordinate multiple projects and programmes
• How to develop culturally responsive project strategies that integrate Te Tiriti o Waitangi
• How to create compelling business cases
• How to mitigate planning biases and create accurate and realistic forecasts
• Tactics for team development and leadership
• Fundamentals of Agile approaches like Scrum and Kanban
• How to put together your own project management methodology

Course outline

Our courses are flexible, enabling you to plan your study around your other commitments. You can choose to study when it suits you during the learning period (28 April – 29 June 2025, with a one-week study break from 26 May – 1 June), followed by a 2-week review period for marking and feedback (30 June – 13 July).

We recommend completing around 6 hours of study a week during the learning period (excluding the study break). 

Module 1: Strategy

Gain practical techniques to manage and coordinate multiple projects and programs simultaneously, including establishing the right initiatives, strategising resource allocation, and balancing risk to achieve strategic business objectives.

Module 2: Leadership and support

Identify the difference between governance, sponsorship, and the Project Management Office (PMO), align the needs of each and recognise who has authority and accountability for the project outcomes. 

Module 3: Cultural connection

Develop culturally responsive project strategies that integrate Te Tiriti o Waitangi, ensuring strong relationships and impactful collaboration with Māori, iwi, and mana whenua stakeholders.

Module 4: Tools and techniques

Learn how to create compelling business cases that define project objectives, value propositions, and expected benefits in alignment with organisational goals.

Module 5: Forecasting and improvement

Learn how to create procedures to mitigate planning biases and use statistical evidence to create more accurate and realistic forecasts while tracking successes and challenges to establish a culture of continuous improvement across projects and programmes.

Module 6: Working with others

Develop leadership skills essential for inspiring teams, managing dynamics, and fostering collaboration and feedback to achieve project goals using proven communication techniques.

Module 7: Adaptive and Agile methods

Gain insight into Agile frameworks like Scrum and Kanban, learning to manage projects in dynamic and evolving environments.

Module 8: Methodology

Understand a traditional predictive methodology, such as Waterfall, and express the differences between Agile and Predictive approaches. Identify and describe when to use or combine the methodologies and how to implement them effectively for structured project environments.

Assessments

• 8 quizzes = 40%
• 2 assessments = 60%

Upon successful completion of the course you will be issued a digital badge to recognise your learning achievements. This can take up to 2 months to be delivered after the marking and feedback period. 

Requirements

There are no prerequisites for this course – it is open to anyone who has confidence listening, reading, and writing in English.

However, this course is designed for those who have completed Professional Project Management or who understand the fundamentals of project management frameworks. Concepts are covered in an advanced way that relies on knowledge of the basics of project management and experience in using some tools and techniques.

Use our self-assessment tool to help you determine which course matches your current skill level. 

Technology requirements

We recommend a laptop or desktop computer and a reliable internet connection. For most courses you'll need to download and populate assignments. These are usually available as Microsoft Word documents.

Course fees

Course fees must be paid before learning can begin, either via online credit-card payment, or by contacting info@uconline.ac.nz to request an invoice. Please note: fixed invoice payment dates apply, so we recommend getting in touch with us as soon as possible to request an invoice, as this option is subject to availability.

Group discounts

Get your colleagues together to take advantage of our group discounts: 

• 10% for 3 - 6 learners
• 15% for 7+ learners

Contact our Partnerships Manager to learn more and enquire now.

Cap & minimum enrolment threshold

A minimum number of learners is needed for effective interaction and feedback, while a maximum cap of learners ensures high quality learning and support. If the minimum number of enrolments required for a course isn’t met, or the maximum cap is exceeded, learners will be given the option to defer their study or receive a refund.

Our people

Please note: our academic team develop and present video content within their courses, but are not always the course facilitator. The course facilitator will engage with learners in the course forums, answer queries and mark assignments.