Educational Alternatives, Volume 17, 2019

Abstract: The present study aims to investigate the influence of project-oriented teaching and gender on individual’s perception of the relevance of project management-specific competences. 59 students of the bachelor’s program ‘Economics, Health and Sports Tourism’ at the LFU Innsbruck and the UMIT Hall were surveyed twice, once at the beginning and once after completion of the project-oriented course ‘Strategic Business Management’ using a questionnaire. The results indicate that the students perceive all project management-specific competences as more relevant after the course. The social and personal competencies are assessed the most important, followed by technical competences, which are also considered to be very relevant. Context competences, on the other hand, are considered less relevant by comparison. Further, the results show that there are gender-specific differences in the assessment. Female participants tend to rate almost all competencies higher in terms of their relevance. In particular, women consider social and personal competencies as well as technical competences to be significantly more important. This study offers an insight into the perception and assessment of competences. Both the insight into which competencies are considered relevant and which differences exist between individuals should serve the further development of teaching methods as well as the organisation and conception of seminars.