Universities around the world are teaching PLM following different strategies, at different degree levels and presenting this approach from different perspectives. This paper aims to provide preliminary results for a comprehensive review concerning the state of the art in PLM education. This contribution presents the design and analysis of a questionnaire that has been submitted to academics in Italy and France, and companies involved in a specific Master program on PLM. The main goal of the survey is to collect objective and quantitative data, as well as opinions and ideas gained from education expertise. The collected results enable to depict the state of the art of PLM education in Italian universities and to gain some insights concerning the French approach; the structure of the survey is validated for further worldwide submission.