PMAC Course Accreditation

The course accreditation process ensures that only quality courses are used as part of a PMAC knowledge-based certification. In this process, training providers submit their training materials for review and approval by the PMAC. Courses that pass the accreditation process will gain the right to use the following phrase in course marketing materials:

“This course is accredited by the Project Management Association of Canada.”

Accredited courses may also display the PMAC Accreditation Seal in their marketing materials and on their course completion certificates:

Accreditation must be renewed each year, else the accreditation status of the course expires.

There is a fee for both the initial review and accreditation, as well as annual accreditation renewals.

Accredited Courses

Follow this link for the latest list of PMAC-accredited courses.

Accreditation Application Process

Training providers who wish to have their courses accredited by PMAC should complete the Course Accreditation Application Form and submit it to the Director of Certification along with the application fee of $250. The fee can be paid online via PayPal to treasurer@pmac-ampc.ca or via cheque made out to “The Project Management Association of Canada.”

Accompanying each application form, should be two copies of a course package that includes the following materials (where applicable):

• The student manual
• The instructor manual
• Handouts
• Textbooks used in the course
• Audio-visual materials (DVDs, Audio CDs, etc.)
• Links to online materials 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 two copies of each 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.

Completed application forms, course packages, and cheques should be mailed to:

The Project Management Association of Canada
Box 58043, Rosslynn RPO
Oshawa, Ontario
Canada, L1J 8L6

Scanned applications (PDF format) and electronic copies of course materials and other resources are also acceptable. Please contact our Certification Body at certification@pmac-agpc.ca for submission instructions.

Following receipt of an application, course package, and payment, the Director of Certification will acknowledge receipt of the submission via email.

Course Assessment Process

Submitted materials will be reviewed by two PMAC 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 membership. Members who are employees of a training provider cannot review materials submitted by that same training provider.

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.

The goal of the assessment is to make a determination, in the reviewer’s professional opinion, of whether the course materials cover an adequate amount of material (i.e. is the course substantive), whether the course materials are reasonably correct (i.e. are they free from material errors), and whether the course materials were prepared in a professional manner (i.e. do they appear professional and of a high quality).

Each assessor may use his or her own personal experience and professional judgment in making an assessment. Assessment criteria are provided in the assessment 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:

1. If two negative assessments are submitted, then the Director should reject the application.
2. If two positive assessments are submitted, then the Director should approve the application.
3. 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 shown in Appendix B. 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.

The Director of Certification will maintain in his or her care a copy of all accreditation reports until at least three years after the expiry of the course accreditation.

Once an accreditation decision has been made by the Director of Certification, he will ask the Board of Directors to formally accredit or reject the accreditation application at the next board meeting.

After the board votes on the accreditation recommendation, the Director will issue a letter to the applicant.

The target for completion of the whole review and accreditation process is one month from the date the application is received until the acceptance or rejection letter is mailed to the training provider.

Accreditation Maintenance

The initial accreditation is valid for a 1-year period. Prior to the expiry of that period, the PMAC Treasurer will issue an invoice for an additional $250 to cover the annual course accreditation maintenance fee.

If the fee is not paid by the renewal date, then the accreditation expires, the course provider will no longer be able to list its course as accredited by the PMAC, and the course will be removed from the PMAC directory of accredited courses and its upcoming course dates will be removed from the PMAC web site, newsletter, and other promotional materials.

Continued use of the PMAC accreditation logo or stating that the course is accredited by PMAC after the expiry date will make the training provider subject to legal action by the PMAC.

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