upGrad partners with Duke Corporate Education to launch a Product Management Certification Program
New Delhi: upGrad and Duke Corporate Education, the executive education arm of Duke University have recently come together to launch a five month long Product Management Certification Program. The program brings about an apt blend of rigorous hands-on teaching along with case studies and projects for students, besides giving students access to a unique learning experience with world-renowned faculty from Duke Corporate Education. The program also mandates strong industry exposure to product experts from leading brands such as Zomato, PayTM, BookMyShow and Myntra.
This program teaches students all aspects of the product development life cycle – user research, user centered-design, minimum viable product, product planning & development, product analytics, user engagement & growth, product marketing and leadership skills. The program also offers industry mentorship sessions with experienced product managers to work on the hands-on assignments and case studies. In addition, students also get dedicated career support through mentorship sessions, resume feedback, one-on-one interview preparation and placement assistance.
The launch of this program comes in at a time when the product management job landscape is extremely pertinent, given the tremendous rise in the number of startups coupled with an increased focus on user-centric products and rapid growth in technology. This stands further validated as LinkedIn ranks Product Manager as one of the most promising jobs in 2019.
Product managers form the core to drive the growth of technology driven start-ups, an area where India ranked third, as per industry association, NASSCOM. As a result, product managers typically earn 30-50% higher than general project manager roles. However, there remains a vast supply gap as recruiters find it difficult to find talent with the right skill and experience in this domain, thus implying a clear need for a structured program to furnish working professionals with the pre-requisite skill-set.
Speaking at the launch of the program, Michael Chavez, CEO, Duke Corporate Education said “Product management is an area of great potential for India’s booming technology and start up sector. Our Product Management program, co-certified by upGrad will give working professionals the opportunity to build the right skills required to excel in this domain. With upGrad’s highly effective online learning pedagogy, local industry knowledge & Duke CE’s world-renowned academic capabilities and expertise in executive education, we are confident of delivering a powerful program experience for all our students.”
Adding to it, Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar, co-founders, upGrad, said “The Indian product ecosystem is growing rapidly and right now, product management is an extremely exciting job – but one needs to cultivate a very specific skill set in order to become a product mangers. upGrad’s Product Management Program in partnership with Duke CE can help to bridge the gap between what product managers need to do and what they are taught, by providing not only a structured coursework but also a mentorship framework – wherein you can interact with industry experts and the best of faculty from Duke CE.”