Aimed at creating a lasting legacy in promoting excellence in Project Management amongst the student community, Project Management Institute (PMI®), a leading global association for project management professionals, has instituted a first-of-it’s-kind Endowment Fund for Project Management Promotion at India’s premier infrastructure education institute, the National Institute of Construction Management & Research (NICMAR), Pune. As per this, a Student Scholarship has been set up to recognize and reward meritorious students from NICMAR, which will be funded from this endowment. The corpus and interest generated from it will support the scholarship scheme for a period of five years. The amount remaining after giving away the scholarship at the end of the fifth year may be used to purchase books on Project Management for the NICMAR library.
A felicitation ceremony for the recipients of the scholarship for the academic year 2009-10 was held at NICMAR recently. Ms. R. Sandhiya was awarded the Best Student Award in Project Management, getting a cash prize of Rs. One Lakh from the Chief Guest, Mr. Raj Kalady, the Managing Director PMI-India. Ms. Pooja Agarwalla, the first runner-up was awarded Rs. 25,000 at the hands of Prof. Mangesh Korgaonker, the Director General of NICMAR. Dr. Anil Agarwal, Dean of the Post Graduate Program was also present on the dais.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Kalady said, “In the race of Asia's economic giants, India is seen to be lagging China in one key growth ingredient: project management skills. And that is believed to be a drag on the country's growth prospects, considering that project management capabilities are relevant for everything from constructing a bridge or launching a rocket, to initiating an HR change management programme or organizing a wedding reception. The Eleventh Five Year Plan says India needs over 500 billion dollars worth of investment in the infra sector in the next five years alone. However, this investment has to be reinforced by the right talent pool. PMI hopes to bridge this divide by influencing and shaping the perception of industry captains towards this need. We endorse the NICMAR’s role in India’s development; we hope this endowment will pave the way in inculcating this mindset among a new generation of competent professionals who graduate from the portals of this hallowed institute. PMI® has donated an amount of Rs 5,50,000 as corpus towards this endowment. And we will be there every step of the way for those who wish to redefine the current paradigms.”
The criteria for selection for the Best Student Award in Project Management was that the Topper and Runner up will be selected from the top ten Rank holders of the full time Post Graduate Courses every year. The qualifications for the scholarship are that the topper student should have received the highest rank in the first year and scored a minimum of 85% in the Project Management subject. All students of the 1st Year in the full time Post Graduate Courses at NICMAR are eligible for the scholarship.
Talking about the support that NICMAR has received from PMI, Prof. Mangesh Korgaonker said, “We are happy to be associated with a premier and globally recognized institute as PMI. If India has to live up to its expectations of a global superpower, it has to deliver to global standards, something impossible to achieve if the academic base remains weak. The Endowment Fund comes at a right time and is sure to give an impetus for the bright minds here to take up further research in project management.”
Four years ago, there were only four universities in China that offered courses in project management, but now they have 109 universities doing that. In India, there are just a few like the NICMAR, Pune that offer specialized courses in the subject. PMI estimates that there are over 20,000 certified project management professionals in the country, which hardly suffices for the projected economic growth that is projected in the country in the near term. However, awareness about project management is growing in the country and that there is increased realization that the fruition of the India growth story hinges on grooming a strong rung of project management professionals who will ensure that wasteful time and cost overruns are avoided in multiple aspects of organizational functioning.
About PMI:
The world’s leading professional membership organization for project managers, PMI shares knowledge with more than 500,000 members and credential holders in over 185 countries. Since 1969, PMI has impacted more than one million practitioners, businesses, governments, students and training organizations. Today, PMI’s products and services range from world-class standards for project, program and portfolio management to five professional credentials, including the gold standard Project Management Professional (PMP) ®. PMI’s exclusive Global Corporate Council and European Corporate Networking Group engage large multinationals and government organizations in endorsing the value of project management.
The only project management association with an established academic research program, PMI has invested more than US$14 million in support of dozens of research projects since 1997. Learn more at www.pmi.org.
About NICMAR:
National Institute of Construction Management and Research (NICMAR) is a leading educational Institute established by the Indian construction industry. NICMAR is an autonomous, non-government, non-profit academic body, incorporated in India on September 1983 as a 'Society' and a public charitable 'Trust'. It is recognised by Government of India as a Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation - SIRO. The Institute conducts major academic programmes started with technical assistance from UNDP and academic inputs from the faculty of Loughbourgh and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
