NATICK, Mass. — The percentage of architecture, engineering, planning, and environmental firms providing mandatory training for project managers is at an all-time high, according to ZweigWhite’s 2003 Project Management Survey of A/E/P & Environmental Consulting Firms. The study also reveals that more than half of firms currently provide mandatory training for project managers, an increase from just 17 percent five years ago. Firms are equally likely to provide voluntary training; about 53 percent reported that this kind of training is available to project managers.

“We’re seeing more and more companies requiring mandatory PM training, and that can only help make things better,” said Mark Zweig, president and CEO of ZweigWhite. “It’s pretty interesting to me to see how many firms have come to the awareness that being a capable designer or engineer does not necessarily equip one to be a good project manager.”

Additional survey data show that while 67 percent of firms provide training in client relations to project managers, only one-third provide training in leadership and supervision of personnel. Training on budgets is most common — 70 percent of firms reported providing this type of training.