By Allen Mapstone, IPWEA Director Strategic Asset Management 

The IPWEA online Professional Certificate in Asset Management Planning is now up to its eighth iteration, and the number of course participants is growing in Australia, New Zealand and internationally.

So why this hugely popular course working so well, and who is it suitable for?

The learning environment

The course is delivered by a combination of eight 90 minute webinars, generally over the course of about 10 weeks. Additionally, participants complete weekly course work and two assignments. The learning environment is a platform called Cahoot, which is at the leading edge of online learning.

Many participants have commented on the convenience of the learning environment and are surprised by its interactive nature. I really thought this would not be as effective as the face-to-face courses we deliver, but that hasn’t been the case; it works well and we develop a relationship with participants. If anyone is struggling we can always make direct contact with them. 

It suits a broad group of practitioners 

We have noticed that the range of background, skills, interest and the range of infrastructure organisations participating is expanding. It is often said that good asset management will require a whole of organisation approach, and we are seeing that not only with the skill sets that participants bring, but also with the range of organisations participating from an expanding number of countries. This diversity leads to some really interesting online discussion, and it also highlights that we are all dealing with very similar challenges!

Introduces the concepts in a straightforward way 

The concepts in the course are not difficult, but they are important to grasp. The delivery over the eight modules gives plenty of opportunity for discussion and clarification, and there seems to be strong take up of these concepts over the course.

Gets everyone started and achieves a result to build on

Everyone loves to talk about the importance of asset management, but they don’t know how to get started. It can be overwhelming at first. The course assists participants to produce their first asset management plan, and the learning from doing that gets them started. Once started the next steps and the ways to improve become clearer.

High completion rates

More than 70 to 75% of participants who commence the course complete the certificate, including writing their asset plans. There is a broad range of participants participating so this completion rate is very encouraging.


The next course kicks off in March 2018, visit ipwea.org/procertamplanning