BlogEngineeringWhat It’s Like Studying a Bachelor of Project Management at USYD

What It’s Like Studying a Bachelor of Project Management at USYD

USYD Project Management - Fact Sheet

If you’re interested in a Bachelor of Project Management at USYD, then you’ve come to the right place!

We’ll take you through everything you need to know about the course including the core units, assumed knowledge, assessments, uni culture and more!

So, let’s get started!

What is a Bachelor of Project Management at USYD? 
Core Units for this Degree
How to Get into a Bachelor of Project Management at USYD
What’s the Teaching Format?
What’s the Faculty and Culture Like?

What is a Bachelor of Project Management at USYD?

A Bachelor of Project Management at USYD provides you with the skills and knowledge you need to succeed in managing people and projects in whatever area you end up in. You’ll learn how to plan and execute projects, how to budget and report on stakeholder progress. You’ll cover finance, risk management and even a little bit of psychology! 

With so many different majors to choose from, you can tailor the course to your interests or even combine the degree with a Bachelor of Engineering! It’s also good to note that this degree is professionally recognised by the Project Management Institute Global Accreditation Centre (GAC) for Project Management Education Program

USYD Project Management - Student Quote

Can it be studied with another degree? 

A Bachelor of Project Management can be taken as a stand alone degree (3 years) or a combined degree (Bachelor of Engineering Honours and Bachelor of Project Management  5 years). 

There’s the chance for you to complete an Honours year providing you achieve a credit average during your Bachelor’s degree. 

Career Paths

The great thing about a Bachelor of Project Management is that the skills you learn are transferable to a range of different areas. At the end of the day, being able to understand and manage people is a very important asset. 

These are just some of the areas you could end up working in as a project manager: 

    • Government 
    • Construction 
    • Healthcare
    • Banking and finance 
    • Information services and publishing
    • Humanitarian aid
    • Environmental 
    • IT

Plus many more! 

Learn more about a career as a Project Manager here!

Core Units for this Degree

There are 14 core subjects that all Project Management students must complete.

Facilitation and Stakeholder Engagement is all about stakeholder analysis and understanding their interests and how they influence a project. You’ll also learn about leadership, emotional intelligence and different communication strategies.

The subject Executing Projects is all about delivering a project so we’re talking hands-on and practical — students have the chance to really work like project managers! 

Project Conflict Management teaches students how to resolve conflict in a professional way — they’ll learn how to negotiate, problem solve and understand how conflict arises and what can be done about it.

Check this out for more info on all the core units!

Majors and Minors

You then have a few different options depending on what you want to do.

You can take a specific Project Management major such as Built Environment or Construction. Otherwise, you can choose a major from the shared pool which has heaps of different options, depending what you’re most interested in. 

From Anatomy and Histology to Business Law to Design to Marine Science — there is definitely something for everyone! You then have the option to complete the two Project Management minors —  People and Change or Project Controls

Check out some of the electives you can also choose from right here!

What’s a Built Environment major like?

Built Environment is one of the two Project Management specific majors (the other one being Construction). In this major, you cover a bit of design, architecture, city planning and more!

You’ll also look at how building designs are influenced by the present day and the planning and development that goes into them. 

Living Cities gets students to think about the evolution of cities and towns and the role of society in influencing the urban environment. In the subject, Property and the Built Environment, students get to work on a case study site where they get to learn about property development and how to run a construction project in the real world (timelines, costs, risk management etc.). 

Have a look here to find out all the info on the subjects involved with this major!

Internships

While you don’t have to do an internship in a Bachelor of Project Management, it never hurts getting some outside experience!

It’s also good to know that in your final year, you’ll complete a capstone project A and B where you join a team and have the chance to work with a company on a certain project — so you get to use all those skills you’ve learnt throughout the three years.

 

How to Get into a Bachelor of Project Management at USYD

You’ll need an ATAR of 86 to secure your spot for a Bachelor of Project Management at USYD. If you achieve a Band 5 or 6 in English or Mathematics, you’re also able to get some extra bonus points

Pathway Programs 

So, if you don’t quite get the ATAR you need for a Bachelor of Project Management at USYD, there is another way to get there! 

You can always transfer from another course at the end of the first year — you can find more details out about this here.

Now, if you don’t meet the mathematics prerequisites, that’s also okay! You can do a kind of bridging course (MOOC and post-MOOC examination) and as long as you successfully complete it, you can apply for the course (providing you have also met the required ATAR).   

Pre-requisites and Assumed Knowledge 

So, there are some maths prerequisites for this course — you will need to have achieved at least a Band 4 in Mathematics or E3 in Mathematics Extension 1 or 2 (if you took an extension subject).

It’s also recommended that you take Mathematics Extension 1 because it will provide you with the foundations and knowledge you need before starting this degree. 

Scholarships

There are a range of different scholarships available at USYD which can be found here! With an ATAR of 95 or above, you can apply for a Project Management undergraduate scholarship.

If you’re a high achiever who received an ATAR of 99.90 or above, you should check out the Chancellor’s Award

What’s the Teaching Format?

A Bachelor of Project Management at USYD consists of lectures, tutorials, labs and workshops and is taught through semesters. There’s also the chance to take subjects during the Intensive Sessions if you wish to. 

Class Structure

USYD Project Management - Class Structure

Lectures

This is where you learn all the theory so make sure you’re ready to type some notes! The size of lectures can always vary, there can be anywhere from 50 to 100 people. 

Tutorials

These are smaller class sizes with anyway up to around 30 people. They are more discussion based, involve various group work activities and you can ask any questions you may have. 

Workshops

The workshops run for two hours and are split — so the first hour is normally theory and the second hour involves group work. In the second hour, this is where you’ll break off into a smaller group to work on your current project/assessment.

These groups are usually around five people and in the whole workshop, you can expect to have about 60 people (give or take a few depending on the subject). 

How many hours do you go to university?

When you study a Bachelor of Project Management at USYD, you’ll usually take four subjects a semester. So, you’re looking at around 8 hours (pretty sweet!) each week.

You’re expected to spend around 2 hours on each subject outside of class — that could be doing your weekly readings, summarising your notes and working on your various projects. 

What are the assessments like?

Guess what?! If exams aren’t really your thing, then you’re in luck! There are barely any exams involved with Project Management (Courtney told us that she has done just two in total). 

With each subject, you can expect to have a group assessment — these are usually in the form of project reporting! You might have to work on a financial report, a stakeholder review, scope document, project plan or even a sustainability submission. 

In terms of the individual tasks, usually you’ll either have to write a reflection on readings from a certain week (yes — you have to do your readings before each week) or write a literature review on a certain topic. 

So, you’re probably thinking ‘What is a Literature Review?’ Well, it’s basically a big essay where you do lots of research, using scholarly material to prove your argument/idea. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to writing these things pretty quickly and you’ll also learn how to use researching tools such as Google Scholar and other databases!

Skills That You Refine and Learn

USYD Project Management - Skills

So, of course, you’ll gain a thorough understanding of what project management involves and all the terminology that goes along with it — from scope analysis to looking at stakeholders, work-breakdown structures and so on. 

You’ll also learn how to work effectively in a team — there are a lot of group assessments (like we discussed above) which means you get used to communicating with others, listening to different ideas, delegating jobs and keeping the team focused and motivated. 

Now, time management and planning go hand in hand with project management. If you can manage your time well and plan ahead, you’ll end up saving a lot of time and stress down the track.

It’s even as simple as learning how to manage your own time well — between university, finding time to study, a part-time job and trying to maintain some sort of a social life, you’ll definitely have enough time to practice and refine these skills. 

What’s the Faculty and Culture Like?

Since a Bachelor of Project Management lies under the Faculty of Engineering, you’re pretty lucky because they’re a social bunch! There is always something happening on campus, always a friendly face around and someone to chat to. 

Faculty

Most of the staff you’ll be taught by have worked as project managers themselves or are still currently working in the field and teaching alongside this. That means they have real world experience to share with you and know how the industry works! 

Societies

You should definitely join the Sydney University Engineering Undergraduate Association SUEUA) because they are huge on campus and offer pub crawls, parties, the annual ball, opportunities for industry networking and they even have their own sports team — sounds pretty fun, right?! It’s also a great way to make new friends. 

Interested in the pros and cons of Project Management at USYD? Check out our article here!


Tanna Nankivell is a Content Writer at Art of Smart Education and is currently in Germany completing a year of study for her double degree in Communications (Journalism) and Bachelor of Arts (International Studies). She has had articles published on Central News – the UTS Journalism Lab and wrote a feature piece for Time Out Sydney during her internship. Tanna has a love for travel and the great outdoors, you’ll either find her on the snowfields or in the ocean, teaching aqua aerobics or creating short films.

 

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