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. 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.
Microsoft Project is confirmed. Dad sent four MS Project links and no Primavera links — that's the answer to which tool his world runs on, and I don't need to ask it. Primavera P6 is the heavier tool on very large construction and engineering jobs; it's worth learning later, but it isn't the assignment.
The full path: PMI Basics (~R4,200) → CAPM exam (~R4,000) → MS Project (from R8,900) ≈ R17,000, all online, all done inside weeks. The CAPM isn't optional extra — the course's 23 hours exist because that's the exam's requirement, and CAPM is a PMI credential, so it's worth the same at Dad's company or anyone else's. Doing the course and skipping the exam is taking the driving lessons and not the test.
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 — prices only
Nothing here needs Dad. He named the field, sent the links, and set the deadline. The rest is admin.
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.