Dr Taryn Bond-Barnard is an experienced project manager and industrial engineer who is currently pursuing her academic interests.

Qualifications and Affiliations

BEng Industrial Engineering (cum laude), MEng Project Management (cum laude) and a PhD in Project Management, all from the University of Pretoria.

Taryn is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP®) PRINCE2® Practitioner and is registered as a professional engineer with ECSA.

In 2017 she was selected for the prestigious Tuks Young Research Leader Programme. In 2018 she was awarded the International Project Management Association (IPMA) Global Young Researcher Award. The IPMA is one of two global project management associations with 40000 members in 60 countries. She also won the GSTM Teaching and Learning Award in 2018 and was selected as one of Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans for 2019.

Practitioner

Taryn worked as an industrial engineer, operations manager and project manager for 8 years before joining the University of Pretoria in 2015. Taryn played a key role in the development, implementation and operation of DTI and Seda National SMME Payment Assistance Hotline and the National Department of Social Development’s Gender Based Violence Command Centre.

Research and Publications

Taryn joined the University of Pretoria as senior lecturer, in June 2015. Her research interests include project communication management, IT & services project management. Taryn has published widely in both national and international journals and often presents papers at local and international conferences.

Lecturing

Taryn teaches IT and Services Project Management modules as part of the only master’s programme on the African Continent that is accredited by the GAC (Global Accreditation Center) of the PMI (Project Management Institute). She has been teaching project management at honours level (IPK780), since 2014. Taryn developed and teaches two international certification courses namely the Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). She also teaches the procurement and contract management module for the Programme in Project Management (PPM see http://www.projectmanagementsa.co.za). All these courses are offered through UP Enterprises.

Schalk Grobbelaar

Senior Lecturer, Department of Engineering and Technology Management, Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment & IT, University of Pretoria

PhD (Eng Man), Pr.Eng, M.Eng, B.Eng (Hon), B.Eng (Mechanical) & GCC Factories

I am currently a Senior Lecturer specialising in Technology and Innovation Management and Risk Management. I perform research in these fields and also data science. Some of my latest research projects utilised supervised machine learning (Artificial Intelligence) to classify academic papers using natural language processing. I utilised Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio.

During my time at York Timbers I was the Group Engineer and my responsibilities focused on project development and execution. We successfully managed several complex multi-disciplinary projects. For many of these projects we identified the opportunity, evaluated technologies, performed the feasibility, obtained acceptance from the stakeholders, performed the pre-engineering, presented the project to the senior management, directors and financiers for approval, performed the detail engineering, executed the project and closed the project. I have developed various operational and strategic decision-making models. Some of these models utilised ERP data to assist complex operational decision-making. I have also developed models that optimises long term decision-making in terms of plantation rotation, tree bucking and sawmill/plywood processing. These models include multiple datasets and enables one to optimise decision-making in a complex environment with multiple dependencies.

My PhD thesis defined the purpose of companies and considered strategies that companies may use to improve their competitiveness. I developed a methodology based on multiple correlation testing that can be used to evaluate the competitiveness of companies. I chose this topic because I am passionate about identifying opportunities where companies can positively influence the ecosystem and sustainably improve its competitiveness.

o        Member of Mensa

o        Member of ICMEESA

o        Academic Honorary Colours (Management of Technology (Coursework)) – University of Pretoria (2010)

o        Member of Golden Key International Honour Society

I started running long distance in 2014 and have subsequently completed multiple half marathons, marathons and ultra-marathons including the Mac Mac Ultra (100 miles), Salomon Skyrun (100km), Lesotho Ultra Trail (50km), Comrades ultra-marathon (Up and Down), Two Oceans ultra-marathon (56km), Longtom ultra-marathon (54km), Loskop ultra-marathon (50km), Mount Aux-Sources ultra-marathon (50km), Kosmos 3-in-1 (42.2, 21.1&10km), Uitsoek Skymarathon (38km) etc.

The Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) of the University of Pretoria is the undisputed leader in project management research, education and training in Africa and is responsible for the academic content of the PPM. The programme is to a large extent developed and taught by the same lectures that offer Africa’s only master’s programme in project management that is accredited by the Global Accreditation Center of the PMI (Project Management Institute).

Thousands of people have already benefitted from the PPM. It has been presented in contact classes more than 180 times since 1997. The PPM is therefore well known in the industry. The content is updated regularly to keep up with new developments.

Recognition and endorsement

• Successful candidates receive a certificate from the University of Pretoria. To obtain the certificate With Distinction a candidate must achieve an average mark of 75% or higher on the eight modules.
• The course is recognized by the PMI (Project Management Institute), USA (160 PDU Hours).
• The course earns credits for ECSA members and SACNASP members who need to renew their professional registration (5 CPU credits).
• The course earns 96 SACPCMP Hours – Category A Core.

Three alternative ways of doing the PPM

The PPM is presented in 3 alternative ways. The curriculum and the certificate for all three alternatives are identical – just the way of presentation differs. The Midweek PPM requires attendance during 4 blocks of 5 days each (Monday to Friday) in Pretoria. These 20 days in class provide for much interaction with lecturers and classmates.

People with at least a 3-year qualification after Grade 12 can consider the Online PPM or the Weekender PPM.

• The Online PPM is presented via the Internet and no lectures are attended in a physical classroom. This option is ideal for people who are not able to, or prefer not to, attend any lectures in a physical venue in Pretoria. They study when and where it suits them.
• The Weekender PPM is presented on 8 Fridays and 8 Saturdays in Pretoria.

The schedule is available here

The brochure for the Midweek PPM can be downloaded here

Course content

The PPM comprises the following 8 modules:

• Project Management Principles, Practices & Scheduling
• Project Risk Management
• Project Procurement and Contract Management
• Project Quality Management
• The People-Side of Project Management
• Legal Aspects for Project Managers
• Financial Principles and Project Cost Management
• Project Management in the Business Context.

Academic arrangements

Assessment is in the form of one or more practical assignments for each of the 8 modules. The last module integrates the work done in the previous 7 modules and assessment is again in the form of practical assignments – there is no other final examination.  

To be admitted to the Midweek PPM at least a Grade 12 (NQF Level 4) qualification with some indication of the ability to do simple calculations (e.g. a subject in Accounting or Mathematics) is required.   

Enrol Now Contact:

Ms Nadine Scott

Tel: +27 (0) 82 651 3594

E-mail:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.                     

Find the enrollment form here

Alternative contacts:

Ms Amanda Mostert

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Prof Herman Steyn

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Learning outcomes

Detailed learning outcomes can be found here

The Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) of the University of Pretoria is the undisputed leader in project management research, education and training in Africa and is responsible for the academic content of the PPM. The programme is to a large extent developed and taught by the same lectures that offer Africa’s only master’s programme in project management that is accredited by the Global Accreditation Center of the PMI (Project Management Institute).

Thousands of people have already benefitted from the PPM. It has been presented in contact classes more than 180 times since 1997. The PPM is therefore well known in industry. The content is updated regularly to keep up with new developments.

Recognition and endorsement

• Successful candidates receive a certificate from the University of Pretoria. To obtain the certificate With Distinction a candidate must achieve an average mark of 75% or higher on the eight modules.
• The course is recognized by the PMI (Project Management Institute), USA (160 PDU Hours).
• The course earns credits for ECSA members and SACNASP members who need to renew their professional registration (5 CPU credits).
• The course earns 96 SACPCMP Hours – Category A Core.

Three alternative ways of doing the PPM

The PPM is presented in 3 alternative ways. The curriculum and the certificate for all three alternatives are identical – just the way of presentation differs. Alternatives to the Weekender option are the Online PPM and the Midweek PPM.

• The Online PPM is presented via the Internet and no lectures are attended in a physical classroom. This option is ideal for people who are not able to, or prefer not to, attend any lectures in a physical venue in Pretoria. They study when and where it suits them.
• The Midweek PPM is presented in 4 blocks of 5 days each (Monday to Friday) in Pretoria.

The schedule is available here

The brochure for the Weekender PPM can be downloaded here.

Course content

The PPM comprises the following 8 modules:

• Project Management Principles, Practices & Scheduling
• Project Risk Management
• Project Procurement and Contract Management
• Project Quality Management
• The People-Side of Project Management
• Legal Aspects for Project Managers
• Financial Principles and Project Cost Management
• Project Management in the Business Context.

Academic arrangements

Assessment is in the form of one or more practical assignments for each of the 8 modules. The last module integrates the work done in the previous 7 modules and assessment is again in the form of practical assignments – there is no other final examination.  

To be admitted to the Weekender PPM a 3-year tertiary qualification is preferred, although prior learning could be recognized. For such recognition, a comprehensive CV is required. 

Enrol Now Contact:

Ms Nadine Scott

Tel: +27 (0) 82 651 3594

E-mail:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.                     

Find the enrollment form here

Alternative contacts:

Ms Amanda Mostert

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Prof Herman Steyn

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Learning outcomes

Detailed learning outcomes can be found here