Improve your professional skills and employability

We offer 2 types of career-boosting courses.

1. Those from certificate, diploma or degree programmes.
2. Those that focus on professional skills. Instead of academic credit, you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion.

All of our courses are studied in your spare time. Their duration depends on the type of course, its subject and its level of difficulty. An online course might take 30 hours spread over however many months you choose. The majority of standard courses are completed in 3 or 6 months. We offer careers advice.

1. Courses from a degree programme

From our qualification programmes, we offer CPD in:

• business and management
• computing and information systems
• education
• technology, engineering and manufacturing
• healthcare.

You’ll be learning in your own time by accessing course material, working on course activities, writing assignments and perhaps networking with other students. You'll receive support from a tutor and staff at Regional Centres, as well as from centralised facilities such as the Library or Open University Students Association. New to the OU site provides details on OU study. Skills for study gives tips on how to make the most of modern distance learning.

Online-only versions

Some OU degree courses offer online-only tuition and assessment as an option. Courses and qualifications tells you which. Online business and management courses lists OU Business School courses with all-online tuition.

Accrediting prior learning

If you have a higher educational qualification, consult Student Registration and Enquiry Service to find out whether you can use it to cut down the number of courses you have to take. If you simply have a lot of business experience, you might be able to turn your prior experiential learning into academic credit. See our APEL section.

2. Flexible online courses - ideal for busy professionals

We offer a range of online CPD courses to improve your professional skills. This type of work-based learning is shorter, more focused and designed to meet the immediate learning or development needs of busy professionals. See their benefits.

Careers advice

The OU Careers Advisory Service provides professional careers and educational advisers in every UK region to support your course choice and career planning. If you are already an OU student, you can:

• listen to the views of major employers,
• access 'What employers want - online career forum' (read only)
• take part in a simulation of a panel interview.