Developing employee skills
The Open University, The Open University Business School and Centre for Professional Learning and Development provide professional and management skills development that delivers immediate benefit to your organisation, whatever its size, through our unique blend of distance learning, known as supported 'Open Learning'.
Standard courses or tailored to your needs?
Our large range of business, management and vocational courses has been developed by leading academics and industry experts. We lead the way in educational technology to ensure flexible and consistent delivery wherever your staff are located.
As well as full degrees and qualifications, there are:
- Standard courses that can be studied singly but also form part of certificate, diploma or degree programmes
- Customised courses tailored to the needs and circumstances of a particular organisation. We listen carefully to your requirements before creating bespoke solutions.
- Flexible online courses for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) that focus on professional skills. Instead of academic credit, Certificates of Completion are awarded
Which staff can benefit?
Without the need to leave the workplace, our courses can improve the functional performance and career horizons of:
- junior or aspiring managers
- functional or technical staff building or refreshing skills
- technical experts moving to management
- middle to senior managers who want to build capability
- employees who are seeking pathways to professional qualifications.
Why choose The Open University?
- Our Business School is among the world’s top 1%, with recognition from the leading three international accreditation bodies (AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS).
- Your employees can develop with us in a way that fits flexibly around their personal and professional lives.
- Our courses draw on real employee experience so that new skills and knowledge can be immediately applied to the work place.
- We are the perfect partner for organisations whose employees regularly move around or who are distributed across locations. Over 75% of FTSE 100 companies have sponsored staff on our courses.
- Our courses are just as relevant for small to medium sized organisations, less able to release staff for full-time study. More than 50,000 organisations have sponsored staff on our courses.
- Our Learning Evaluation and Development Service (LEADS) provides a fast, cost-effective and rigorous tool to evaluate the effectiveness of our courses.