Three postgraduate students at The Robert Gordon University's Aberdeen Business School (ABS) are the first to benefit from an annual Balmoral Offshore Engineering MSc Project Management sponsorship prize.

Winner of the inaugural award was Melanie Thom with her paper, “An investigation into agile development and its relationship with project success”. Second place was awarded to Saliha Ismail for the paper, “Risk evaluation in project selection process in project portfolio management”. “Assessing the project management maturity of the Nigeria oil and gas indigenous companies” secured third place for Ben Onochie Epundu.

Jim Milne, chairman and MD at Balmoral, said: “We all know how competitive today’s business environment is. Every employer looks for someone who has something extra; a sparkle that makes them stand out from the crowd. I believe our three winning students characterise a new breed of professional managers.”

Aberdeen Business School Dean, Rita Marcella, said: “This award is of enormous benefit to the students and our agreement with a company as successful as Balmoral speaks volumes about the way in which ABS is perceived. Our close links with industry are what we are all about.”

Since this award Melanie has gone on to secure the Aberdeen chapter of the Association for Project Management’s (APM) “Best Postgraduate Dissertation” prize beating off stiff competition from her fellow students at RGU and Aberdeen University.

Aberdeen Business School’s MSc in Project Management is a management development programme suitable for new graduates and experienced project managers wishing to develop their professional practice and gain a qualification in their specialist area.

The programme has been approved for full accreditation by the APM and RGU has become a Registered Educational Provider for the discipline's leading international professional body, the Project Management Institute (PMI).

For further information on the course and how to apply, contact course leader Senga Briggs on +44(0)1224 263832 or email s.briggs@rgu.ac.uk.