Project management education is currently facing several challenges to help people deal more effectively with the complexities of their future
work. Students' exposure to ‘real’ project situations in which they can use, develop, and reflect on their skills as well as learn from each other has
become essential and in need of further improvements. This paper presents a group-based approach to project management education which uses
the notion of a ‘group’ as a system in order to develop students' individual awareness of and abilities to deal with both expected and unexpected
project situations. The approach aims at nurturing and fostering students' involvement in project situations whilst challenging them to go beyond
their own learning comfort zones. Reflections from our experience of using this approach in several courses in UK higher education institutions
lead us to identify its benefits, different strategies that students use to respond to challenges, and new possibilities to continue improving project
management education.