PMAC-AGPC's Certification Body performs quality assessments for both academic and professional education courses to ensure they meet the highest industry standards. Courses that pass the assessment earn the right to say they are accredited by the Project Management Association of Canada and can use the PMAC-AGPC accreditation logo in their marketing literature.
To become accredited, PMAC-AGPC assessors review the course materials and evaluate them against a number of criteria including:
- Accuracy — Are the course materials correct and error free?
- Standards Alignment — Are the courses aligned with PM standards?
- Substantiveness — Do the course materials cover the subject well enough to address the learning objectives without leaving significant gaps?
- Pedagogical Soundness — Are the materials taught in a way (e.g. using appropriate exercises or group discussions) that is appropriate for the subject matter and that engages learners with multiple learning styles?
- Professionalism — Are the materials created in a professional manner that reflects well on the accrediting body?
Assessed courses that meet these high standards earn the PMAC-AGPC course accreditation.
Note that accreditations have a time limit as courses can become outdated over time so they must be renewed periodically to remain valid.
Application Process
If you are interested in having your course accredited by the association, please contact us via email (certification@pmac-agpc.ca) to initiate the process and include a telephone number where you can be contacted. The path to accreditation varies depending upon the nature of the course (online or classroom, length of course, etc.). The accreditation process typically ranges from three weeks to eight weeks with a service level target of six weeks.
Applications will be asked to submit an application form along with the accreditation application fee. Upon receipt of the application form and fee, the association's Director of Certification will contact the applicant to arrange access to the course materials being assessed. Materials may be provided in print or digital (preferred) formats. Such materials may include:
- The student manual
- The instructor manual
- Handouts
- Textbooks used in the course
- Audio-visual materials (videos and sound recordings)
- Links to online resources used (including login IDs and passwords)
- Descriptions of any tools, games, or other teaching aids used
Where course materials such as texbooks and audio-visual materials are licensed from third parties and where the cost of such materials would make it prohibitive to provide copies of these materials, then the applicant may ask the Director of Certification for an exemption from the need to submit these materials. Instead, the materials may be substituted with a written summary or description of the contents of the exempted materials.
Following receipt of an application, course package, and payment, the Director of Certification will acknowledge receipt of the submission via email.
Assessment Process
Submitted materials will be reviewed by two PMAC-AGPC members under the guidance of the Director of Certification. The Director is responsible for ensuring that the assessment is thorough, impartial, and follows the process described herein.
The two reviewers will be selected by the Director from among the PMAC-AGPC membership. Members who are employees of a training provider cannot review materials submitted by that same training provider to avoid conflicts of interest. Reviewers may be either volunteers (who gain ten “professional giveback” credits each for their assessment work, if completed) or members who are paid a small fee to complete the assessment work, at the Director of Certification's discretion.
The identities of the reviewers shall not be revealed to the training provider, and the identities of the two reviewers will be kept from each other, so that each reviewer may work completely independently and free from influence from the other reviewer and the training provider.
Reviewers will read, view, listen to, or otherwise examine all of the materials in the course package before completing an assessment form scoring the materials against a number of assessment criteria listed in the form. After both reviewers have completed their assessments, they will submit the assessment forms to the Director of Certification.
The Director of Certification will review the two assessments and then make an accreditation decision subject to the following guidelines:
- If two negative assessments are submitted, then the Director should reject the application.
- If two positive assessments are submitted, then the Director should approve the application.
- If one positive and one negative assessment are submitted, then the Director should personally review the course materials and complete his or her own personal assessment using the same assessment form. The Director’s assessment will combine with the previous two assessments to act as the tie breaker. The Director cannot provide a tie-breaker assessment for an application from a non-arms-length training provider.
Once an accreditation decision has been made, the Director of Certification will issue a letter to the applicant with the results.
The target for completion of the whole review and accreditation process is six weeks from the date the application is received until the acceptance or rejection letter is mailed to the training provider.