Business school academia and PRINCE2 – bringing the best of both worlds to students and businesses in Brazil
The Brazilian branch of a global business school is now taking its project management capability to companies in Belo Horizonte, one of the country’s growing economies.
SKEMA Business School saw the opportunity to set up a dedicated business unit delivering short training courses – such as PRINCE2 for project management – and providing consulting capabilities through student placements.
Since becoming an accredited training organisation through partnership with PeopleCert –the leading global company in assessing and certifying professional skills and custodians of PRINCE2 – offering project management skills to the local market was the logical next step.
Best practice solutions to business problems
Rodrigo Neves, Scientific Director of SKEMA’s MSc Project and Programme Management and Business Development degree course said: “The new business unit will bring PRINCE2 and other certifications to companies that want to train project managers. However, this is also relevant to our executive training programmes.“Our vision is to create the best of both worlds – bringing together academic and professional best practice content. Brazilian companies need solutions to their problems and the combination of SKEMA Business School and PeopleCert will help this.”
The school is also reviewing other best practice certifications in the PeopleCert portfolio, plus the potential to include English language proficiency exams from sister company, LanguageCert, to help international students find jobs.
Mixing MSc learning with PRINCE2 training
SKEMA Business School – a global institution with a Brazilian campus – has been providing both local and international students with knowledge of how to do business in Brazil for five years.Its MSc Project and Programme Management and Business Development degree course is designed to teach students how to build businesses through projects and programmes.
Rodrigo Neves explained: “The course content is not just academic but offers practical ideas along with real projects done by students; bringing the academic and market together to give something different to students, who are young and hungry to do new things.”
Students enrolled on the Masters programme often have no work experience, so embedding PRINCE2 project management training and certification in the curriculum adds important, real-world knowledge and discipline to the learning experience.
“Originally, PRINCE2 was available only via our French campus. Now, through partnership with PeopleCert, we can deliver it in Brazil with a local business touch,” Neves added.
“As PRINCE2 is one of the most recognised project management methods in the world, we can blend this with our academic research to get the best of both worlds. And it opens our students’ minds to concepts such as control and process – things that are necessary within real projects.”
The knowledge and skills students gain through combining their MSc and PRINCE2 is also relevant to the recruitment demands of companies and organisations in Belo Horizonte, where SKEMA’s Brazilian campus is based.
“Belo is the third largest metro area in Brazil after Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo and a hub for IT companies, plus major growth in the fintech and mining industries,” Neves said, adding that the business school opened a talent and career centre on campus, integrated with other global campuses to help students find jobs in Brazil and beyond.
“Companies need employees who are both skilled and adaptable, so the application of our MSc, PRINCE2 and having multi-lingual abilities differentiates SKEMA and our students.
“Through working on real projects and consulting programmes, students are jumping directly into the employment market with knowledge and experience,” Neves said.