from R8,900 (enrolment pricing shown from R12,900)
Dates
Rolling — you book the slot
Gives
Certificate of completion + optional Microsoft cert prep
Why it ranks here: lowest published price, shortest hours, and no travel. Covers scheduling, Gantt charts, resource allocation, critical path and dashboards — the exact daily work of a planner.
confirm the R8,900 vs R12,900 difference before paying
North-West University · Unit for Continuing Education
Format
Not stated on the page
Cost
Not published
Dates
Not published
Entry
Basic computer skills assumed
NWU publishes almost nothing on this page — no price, no dates, no delivery mode. It's an enquiry form only. A university name on the certificate is the one thing it has going for it. Email them; don't wait on it.
Engineering & Built Environment · Quality & Operations Management
Why it's worth it: a real university certificate, in my city, in three months, in the exact department that feeds construction and engineering project work — which is Dad's world.
I have to phone for this one. UJ's site blocks automated reading, so the fee isn't confirmed and the coordinator's email is hidden behind spam protection. Call and ask for: the 2026/27 fee, the next intake date, and whether matric alone is enough to enrol.
Prefers a 3-year tertiary qualification; work experience considered instead
Contact
Simbulele Mtshotane
The heavyweight option. University of Pretoria name, industry CPD points that count in construction, fully online so no travel.
Two things to weigh: R40,000 is roughly ten times the PMI + CAPM route for a similar entry-level outcome. And the next intake starts 17 August — two days away. If this one is happening, it has to be decided now; otherwise the intake after it.
Higher Certificate: Operations Management in Project Management
DUT · Durban Business School · NQF 5 · SAQA 111412
Format
Contact-based — lectures, group work, case studies
Location
41/43 M L Sultan Rd, Greyville, Durban
Length
1 year
Funding
Self-funded only — no NSFAS for part-time
Why it's closed: DUT's own page requires a minimum age of 23 and 3 years of work experience. I have neither yet. It's also in Durban and contact-based, so I'd have to move. Park it — it becomes possible later, and the job itself supplies the work experience.
A project planner or scheduler does one thing: turn work into a dated, costed, sequenced plan, then track the real world against it. The deliverable is the schedule.
The tool matters more than the theory. Planning work in Dad's industry runs on Microsoft Project and Primavera P6. A certificate proves I understand the language; the software proves I can do Monday's work. That's why an MS Project course sits at the same priority as the qualification, not below it.
The cheapest complete path: PMI Basics (~R4,200) → CAPM exam (~R4,000) → School of IT MS Project (from R8,900). Roughly R17,000, all online, all finishable inside a couple of months. That combination — a recognised credential plus the actual scheduling tool — is what a junior planner is hired on.
Then P6. Primavera is the heavier tool used on big construction and engineering projects. Once MS Project is solid, that's the next thing to learn, and it's the one that separates a planner from an administrator.
Worth naming: none of this needs a university degree or my matric maths mark. Every gate here is money and time, not marks.
The calls to make first
Dad — is CAPM the certificate his company actually respects, or does he want a specific one? His answer overrides everything on this page.
Dad — MS Project or Primavera P6 on his projects? Learn the one they use.
UJ — 2026/27 fee, next intake, and whether matric alone gets me in.
School of IT — what's the real number: R8,900 or R12,900, and what's the difference?
Prospen — price for the 14–18 September Sandton course.
NWU — price, dates and delivery mode, since none of it is published.