Corporate development

Developing your employees to support your business needs

Embedding new skills within your organisation can help you achieve the goals you’ve set, increase your productivity, improve the quality of your service, reduce costs, improve staff retention and much more.

The Open University’s employee learning and development courses draw on genuine business practice so that new skills and knowledge can be immediately applied to the workplace. Distance learning or e-learning helps you succeed with minimal disruption to your day to day operations.

There are several ways to bring new skills and expertise into your business.

Sector specific skills

The OU’s sector solutions combine commonly required management training with industry expertise. Many of these courses are designed in partnership with sector leaders to reflect the relevant skills or qualifications frameworks, and are accredited or endorsed by professional bodies.

If you work in local or central government, defence, healthcare, education, the third sector, financial services, IT, telecoms, engineering and construction, energy and utilities, sport and fitness or transport and logistics, the OU can support your staff in upgrading their skills.

For more information, visit our sector solutions section.

Sponsor individual staff

Sponsoring employees is an excellent way to bring in the latest business thinking and skills, while also being hugely motivating for individuals. For example, staff with technical skills or vocational experience often benefit from on-going management training as they progress through your organisation.

Courses popular with employers include management foundation modules such as the Professional certificate in management, senior management training such as our triple accredited MBA and flexible online courses in professional skills such as people and project management.

For more information, visit our professional courses section.