Project Offices and the Federal Universities: A Study on Project Management in the Context of Higher Education Institutions

Project management has a wide field of study, but its implementation in Public Universities is still recent. In order to support project management, as well as to improve the methodology and management tools, this study aimed to identify which are the models of Project Management Offices – PMO’s, existing in Brazilian Federal Universities. From the theoretical review, the office model was chosen by performance level and its attributions. After conducting a mapping based on data from the Ministry of Education and from the Universities websites, the existence of 20 Offices was identified, present in 14 of the 63 Federal Universities in Brazil. It was verified that most of the offices has a more technical than strategic action, being more connected to certain units or areas of the Universities, such as Engineering or Computing. The study provides evidence that most Brazilian Universities still do not use the PMO’s, and demonstrates that they could improve their performance if they adopted these units in their administrative structures, at the operational levels and especially at the strategic level.Project management has a wide field of study, but its implementation in Public Universities is still recent. In order to support project management, as well as to improve the methodology and management tools, this study aimed to identify which are the models of Project Management Offices – PMO’s, existing in Brazilian Federal Universities. From the theoretical review, the office model was chosen by performance level and its attributions. After conducting a mapping based on data from the Ministry of Education and from the Universities websites, the existence of 20 Offices was identified, present in 14 of the 63 Federal Universities in Brazil. It was verified that most of the offices has a more technical than strategic action, being more connected to certain units or areas of the Universities, such as Engineering or Computing. The study provides evidence that most Brazilian Universities still do not use the PMO’s, and demonstrates that they could improve their performance if they adopted these units in their administrative structures, at the operational levels and especially at the strategic level

Project Office: Implementation proposal at UFPel

Project Management has a wide field of study demonstrating the benefits of applying its practices to organizational efficiency for both private and public administration. However, the creation of specialized units such as Project Offices in Federal Public Universities is still poorly publicized. This research presents practical examples of Project Offices in Higher Education Institutions that made it possible to raise subsidies for the construction of a proposal for the establishment of an Office at the Federal University of Pelotas. To reach the objectives, the research was constructed from bibliographic review, documentary research and field research through semistructured interviews. It is concluded that although the stage of knowledge of project management techniques and the use of specific methodologies differ between the analyzed units, they seek the improvement of their structures and tools demonstrating the awareness about the importance of project management for the organizations in which they are inserted.Sem bolsaO Gerenciamento de Projetos possui um amplo campo de estudo demonstrando os benefícios advindos da aplicação de suas práticas para a eficiência organizacional tanto para a iniciativa privada quanto para a administração pública. Contudo, a criação de unidades especializadas como os Escritórios de Projetos em Universidades Públicas Federais ainda é pouco difundida. Esta pesquisa apresenta exemplos práticos de Escritórios de Projetos em Instituições de Ensino Superior que possibilitaram angariar subsídios para a construção de uma proposta de implantação de um Escritório na Universidade Federal de Pelotas. Para alcançar os objetivos, a pesquisa foi construída a partir de revisão bibliográfica, pesquisa documental e pesquisa de campo por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas. Conclui-se que apesar do estágio de conhecimento das técnicas de gerenciamento de projetos e o emprego de metodologias específicas diferir entre as unidades analisadas, todas buscam o aprimoramento de suas estruturas e ferramentas demonstrando a conscientização acerca da importância do gerenciamento de projetos para as organizações nas quais estão inseridas