FAQs for Students Enrolled in Accredited Programs

Project management education contact hours are the measuring unit used to quantify approved learning to qualify to sit for PMI Credentials. One hour of classroom instruction equals one contact hour. Example: If a student has completed a university or college course/module on project management that met for three hours per week for 15 weeks, the student would record 45 contact hours.

Pre-approved contact hours are accepted, without question, toward fulfilling the educational requirements to sit for relevant PMI credentials.

• The Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)^®
• The Project Management Professional (PMP)^®
• The PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)^®
• The PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)^®
• The PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)^®
• The PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)^®

PMI credential applications have a listing of education providers. There is a category titled “GAC Accredited Programs.” The student would select that category when completing the application.

Professional Development Units (PDUs) are the measure used to quantify approved learning and professional service activities for PMI Credentials. One hour of instruction related to project management, program management, project risk, project scheduling or agile project management equals 1 PDU. PDUs can be reported in 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 increments.

Pre-approved PDUs are accepted, without question, towards fulfilling the continuing certification requirements to maintain PMI credentials.

Appropriate project management PDUs from a GAC accredited program are accepted for the following PMI credentials:

• The Project Management Professional (PMP)^®
• The Program Management Professional (PgMP)^®
• The Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)^®
• The PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)^®
• The PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)^®
• The PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)^®
• The PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)^®

After completing a project management module/course within a GAC accredited program, students may claim PDUs under “Category A – Courses Offered by PMI’s Authorized Training Partners, GAC Accredited Degree Programs, chapters and communities.”

The GAC accredited program’s core project management courses/modules must be registered in PMI’s Continuing Certification Requirements System (CCRS). Please contact GAC staff for information on registering courses with PMI.

Only the core project management courses/modules included within the GAC accredited program are able to be included in the contact hour/PDU benefit.

As of 1 July 2015, students completing core project management courses/modules included within a GAC accredited program may claim core courses for the pre-approved contact hour/PDU benefit.