Course content

There is increasing recognition that a significant proportion of government, business, and social activities take place in the form of projects. Projects are temporary organisational forms assembled to achieve distinct goals, such as a new infrastructure system, organisational transformation, or the development of a new product or service. Important policy initiatives, such as achieving sustainability targets and the development and maintenance of national and international research, resilience, and defence infrastructures, are all implemented through projects. Consequently, there is a growing demand for project professionals with the competencies to address challenges in a changing world, including the ability to work beyond and across traditional disciplines in increasingly diverse and typically international contexts.

Projects are particularly prominent in engineering industries, and for most engineers, becoming a project manager is the first step towards organisational management. This course aims to familiarise students with the theories and practices that project professionals need to excel in various sectors and industries. It does so by laying the groundwork for (a) a theoretical understanding of projects as organisational forms and (b) the application of this theoretical understanding to challenges in projects and the organisations involved in them.

The course comprises three key segments to encompass the organisational aspects of projects and their management: (1) projects, their contexts, and organisational arenas; (2) programmes of projects; and (3) project portfolios. Emphasis will be placed on the role of strategy and governance of multiple projects in achieving sustainable development goals through projects in organisations and policies.

Learning outcome

1. Ability to navigate the different contexts and challenges faced by project organisations operating through projects, programmes, and portfolios.
2. Application of key ideas and concepts from the literature to various real-life settings of project organisations.
3. The course also aims to facilitate the development of skills necessary to operate in internationally diverse working environments, using English as the primary working language.

Additionally, the course will help students acquire essential project skills, including collaborative group work, progress reporting, addressing ad-hoc research challenges, and conducting extensive literature reviews

Learning methods and activities

The course will include lectures, case studies, study groups, practitioner contributions, and individual work. Classroom sessions will feature case-based work, group activities, and discussions of examples to maximise the learning experience. Outside of classroom sessions, students will engage with the material through self-study and group work.

To address learning outcome 2, the course will feature guest contributions from industry speakers who will discuss their projects in class. To meet learning objective 3, the teaching cases and discussions will have an international scope, and the primary language of instruction will be English.

Compulsory activities: Pre-session reading and learning activities, class attendance and participation, group work and development of individual assignments.

Compulsory assignments

• Participation in teaching, group assignments and development of individual assignments

Recommended previous knowledge

The course is primarily designed as a mandatory component for first-year students of the NTNU International Master of Science in Project Management, but it is open to students of other NTNU programmes who wish to obtain a broad understanding of the world of project organising, its challenges and opportunities. The course is also open for enrolment for incoming foreign exchange students.

Required previous knowledge

Any basic course covering project management and its techniques.

Course materials

Will be announced later.

Credit reductions