Saïd Business School, University of Oxford and BT to establish world’s first research centre for major programme management

BT and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford are to establish the world’s first research centre for Major Programme Management. The BT Centre for Major Programme Management will carry out a programme of leading-edge and multi-disciplinary research, drawing together the expertise within the Saïd Business School and the broader University of Oxford (within departments such as engineering, computer science and law) and eminent practitioners from the global business community.

As well as carrying out research in this field, the centre will also develop a ground-breaking teaching programme which will lead to an MSc in Major Programme Management to be launched in Autumn 2008.
Major programmes, such as the Olympics, which are characterised by being complex, high value, long-term projects, have proliferated in recent years. Typically their outcome impacts millions of people. Yet there is a shortage of rigorous, empirically grounded and intellectually robust support for this discipline.

Organisations are rethinking their approaches to major transformation programmes because of the increased complexity of operations in the public and private sectors around the world. The traditional tools and techniques of project management are no longer sufficient for the complex task of major programme management.

The BT Centre for Major Programme Management is intended to consolidate knowledge around this emerging and dynamic field which has considerable significance economically and often politically. It will foster a practical approach to the effective management of large scale programmes.
The BT Centre is expected to be fully operational in 2008. A Director of the Centre and a BT Professor of Major Programme Management will be appointed and further research appointments will follow.

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