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APM Rebranding: The Qualification Name Changes Explained
By ILX Team | 29 November 2016 | Updated on 22 August 2022
In October, Association for Project Management announced name changes to two of its qualifications. This is APM’s new naming convention:
- The Introductory Certificate is now the APM Project Fundamentals Qualification (PFQ)
- APMP is now APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ)
At ILX, we also offer APM Project Management Qualification for PRINCE2 Practitioners. This specialised course was previously called APMP for PRINCE2 Practitioners. Now, it also conforms to APM’s new naming standard.
While all this may be confusing at first, these name changes will prove beneficial in the long run. APM’s motivation for the new naming convention is simplicity and cohesion.
Simplicity
APM qualifications have existed for decades. Over this time, they adopted many variants and styles. Originally, APM Professional was shortened to APMP. This was later lengthened to APMP: The Project Management Qualification. The Introductory Certificate in Project Management was just as confusing. The number of variants included IC, ICPM and Introductory Certificate. Even if you know the qualification’s name, knowing the ‘right’ version to search for wasn’t obvious.
The new naming system settles a lot of confusion. After they have time to bed in, the APM qualification names will be simpler to understand and more standardised. This is how they look side-by-side:
|
Old Names |
New Names |
|
Introductory Certificate in Project Management, IC, ICPM, Introductory Certificate, APMIC |
Project Fundamentals Qualification (PFQ) |
|
APM Professional, APMP, APMP: The Project Management Qualification, APM PMQ |
Project Management Qualification (PMQ) |
Cohesion
Another problem with the old names was knowing how they relate to each other. The new naming system links APM qualifications together. By making the naming more coherent, it highlights a progressive career path. Training providers, employers and candidates have requested this for a long time.
The consistent naming shows the progression from ‘fundamentals’ to ‘management’ to ‘professional’. The old names looked more disparate and it was hard to tell which course was suitable for a candidate. The new names show the hierarchy of courses and demonstrate how APM qualifications can support candidates throughout their career. This will also be easier for employers, who can tell from the word ‘fundamentals’, ‘management’ or ‘professional’ where an applicant would fit in their organisation.
You can reach the ‘fundamentals’ stage of APM, or even progress further into the ‘management’ stage, with ILX. See our full list of APM courses. For any questions or queries, visit our contact page to get more information.