by Brianna Crandall — June 19, 2019 — For over 20 years, the IFMA Foundation has served as the global accrediting body for the Facility Management Accredited Degree Programs (ADP), setting the academic standards and criteria for college and university programs that offer associate, bachelor, master and post-graduate degrees. With the current pressing need for knowledgeable professionals to step into the thousands of FM positions opening in the next several years, the IFMA Foundation announces the creation of a new FM certificate program.
The new Registered Facility Management Program (RFMP) allows educational institutions that are just starting their own programs to give FM certificates that equip graduates with the core competencies of facilities management. This coursework will provide the education needed for students to move right into the workplace. The RFMP will create a continuum that will lead to the creation of new facilities management Accredited Degree Programs.
The RFMP enables the schools to get proper guidance in setting up the most appropriate educational criteria that will lead to the creation of new facilities management Accredited Degree Programs, while at the same time getting proper recognition, for their efforts and the students’ work. This new category of education qualification will accelerate new programs for FM and mean a more professionally trained workforce for both the public and private sectors, says the IFMA Foundation.
Nancy J. Sanquist, IFMA Foundation Chair and IFMA Fellow, stated:
This new category of education qualification will accelerate new programs for facility management and result in a workforce with more consistent and robust training for both the public and private sectors.
With 49 being the average age of current facilities managers and 50 percent of them retiring in the next five to 10 years, the FM field is in critical need for highly trained workers and managers. To add to this crisis, there will be at least 500,000 job openings during this same time period and currently, there are less than 1,000 professionally trained facility management students graduating each year.
The new RFMP program will enable more qualified students, who either are just beginning career preparation or changing their jobs, to begin their education in more locations around the world, be eligible for scholarships to pay for their education, and/or start work faster with premier IFMA Foundation Global Workforce Initiative organizations like Sodexo and ABM.
Regina Ford Cahill, IFMA Foundation Trustee and chair of the Academic Affairs Committee and Facility Management Accreditation Commission (FMAC), remarked:
The RFMP equips academic institutions with the ability to offer top-notch facility management education and prepare students for the facility management jobs of today and the future. Most importantly, the RFMP requires foundational content to include the core competencies carefully vetted by global facility management professionals with proven value in today’s work environment.
For more information about the new FM certificate program and a full listing of FM Accredited Degree Programs worldwide, visit the IFMA Foundation Academics webpage.
