The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Project Management certificates currently available in Switzerland, analyse the necessity and value of these certificates among relevant stakeholders, and develop a concept for combining such certificates into the FHNW curriculum. Another aim is to offer a recommendation about which certification is appropriate for FHNWs and students' needs. Furthermore, a survey was conducted to determine the actual needs of students and the potential demand for such a certification.

First information on different internationally recognised certifications was collected and the certifications were compared to one another by applying the finding to selected criteria. With the help of a decision making matrix the certification most suitable to students needs was determined. Two surveys were conducted one with students and one with company representatives with 175 participants, aiming to collect sufficient information about individuals' perspectives on external certification in project management (PM).

The survey results showed that more than half of the participants from the student survey indicated a high level of interest in project management PM certification. This shows that many allocated high importance to external certification, mainly because they perceive it as beneficial to future applications, as it gives them a significant competitive advantage. Fifty percent of the respondents from the company survey are convinced that an employee with such a certificate will add value to their company. Further, we found that most of the companies do not offer internal project management development opportunities for current employees. As a result, we are confident that companies will highly value potential employees who already have project management certification at the time of entry, as it saves them time and money on training. These findings support the School of Business FHNW to include an external project management certification in the curriculum. In conclusion, a module that includes external certification in project management is likely to add value to the curriculum of the FHNW School of Business, as it would increase the students' chances to secure a desired job.