Courses
Recession-proof your skills, shore up any holes in your CV or strike out in a completely new direction with our dynamic range of brain stretching courses.
Every year we help thousands of individuals to change, and with over 570 professionally developed courses designed to fit flexibly around life and work, there's bound to be something to inspire you.
Find out more about studying at the OU
You may also be entitled to help with paying for study.
New to higher education?
If you've not done a lot of learning since school or college, you might want to get back into the swing of things gently with a short introductory Openings course. Ideal for dipping your toe in before committing to a qualification, these courses allow you to brush up on study skills and test out new areas of interest with no exams and lots of support from your personal tutor.
Build on your existing knowledge, skills and qualities to achieve positive change - considering the options open to you and making plans for the future.
We all have experience of managing or being managed - formally, informally, at work or elsewhere. Explore what 'management' means, and what makes a good manager.
This wide-ranging course introduces social science concepts and debates, from family life to social movements, exploring how different people live in our changing society.
This friendly introduction to the study of the environment explores topics like the biology of ecosystems and food chains, biodiversity, ecological sustainability and fossil fuels.
Learn how to tackle everyday mathematical problems at home, work or in your further studies, through fascinating and entertaining case studies, activities, puzzles, and more.
These are just some of the Openings courses on offer that could help boost your CV or be the first step to working towards promotion. Others include psychology, childhood studies, health, arts, law, sport studies.
Has losing your job prompted you to consider a career change?
Get into something completely new with the OU. Our highly flexible work focused courses will help you build on past experiences and develop talents and passions into the foundations of a new career. And if you'd like to refresh your knowledge and return to a previous vocation - we can help with that too
Take stock of your skills, plan for your personal and career development and gain 30 higher education credit points, by drawing on previous learning experiences.
Return to science, engineering and technology 
This course offers a supportive, structured environment to help you plan your return to work in either science, engineering or technology (SET) through online study.
Investigating entrepreneurial opportunities
If you're considering starting your own venture, this course helps you test your ideas to arrive at a business proposition with ambitious yet attainable objectives.
Master of business administration
A must for every aspiring manager, our internationally recognised MBA is designed to deliver a complete package of skills to any professional wishing to compete at a higher level. It covers off topics such as strategic analysis, interdisciplinary skills, intellectual stimulation and independent judgement which can then be applied to a wide variety of sectors.
In the current climate teaching is looking like a more and more attractive prospect to many people because of its copper-bottomed job security and excellent rewards. The OU PGCE offers a flexible route to qualified secondary school teacher status in the following subjects: maths, science, design and technology, modern foreign languages (French, German or Spanish), geography and music.
Certificate in Web Applications Development
Aimed at anyone keen to further their knowledge of the design and development of web applications, this qualification delivers knowledge and understanding at every stage of the development process from initial design, to scripting, database use and system performance monitoring. If you're new to the OU we recommend you begin with the level 1 course Design and the web (T183).
Want to get into a sustainable career?
Questions around renewable energy and green ethics are at the forefront of many employers’ minds at the moment. And with jobs in renewables set to rise to over 160,000 in the UK by 2020, improving your knowledge and understanding of this sector will open up a host of opportunities for you.
Free courses on OpenLearn:
Introduction to sustainable energy
The search for sustainable energy will dominate the twenty-first century. This unit provides an introductory overview of the present energy systems and takes a brief look at where the world may find energy in the future – cleaner use of fossil fuels or renewable energy sources?
Why sustainable energy matters
Access to safe, clean and sustainable energy supplies is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity during the twenty-first century. This unit will survey the world's present energy systems and their sustainability problems, together with some of the possible solutions to those problems and how these might emerge in practice.
Working with our environment - an introduction
Global warming: are we responsible? Is our environmental impact damaging the planet? This unit examines the use of ozone depleting technology, the impact of fossil fuel use and explores how the development of technology can influence the direction of a society. From the Industrial Revolution to the present day find out how we have changed the planet.
Courses leading to qualifications:
This friendly introduction to the study of the environment explores topics like the biology of ecosystems and food chains, biodiversity, ecological sustainability and fossil fuels.
Energy for a sustainable future
Is environmentally sustainable energy just a pipe dream? Explore the sustainability problems of current fuel use, and examine more efficient use of energy, including renewables.
This course introduces a wide range of environmental concerns, exploring and debating our responses to them and investigating their scientific, technological and social backgrounds.
Looking to top up your existing qualifications?
Shore up the holes in your CV and kick-start your career development with a targeted relevant qualification that shows you mean business. Whether you've found yourself unexpectedly back in the job market or you're keen to safeguard your current position, we've got all the training you need to get on.
CPD courses
Our flexible CPD courses help thousands of professionals each year develop their careers by delivering valuable practical training designed to be fitted around work. As well as a range of professionally recognised qualifications, we also offer a variety of short courses to help you gain immediate employment skills.
Did you know that many of our qualifications are developed in association with leading industry bodies such as The College of Law, Royal College of Nursing and The British Computer Society?
Fundamentals of senior management
This course gives you a thorough grounding in management concepts and principles, from management context and practice, to improving performance, project management and managing change.
Certificate in Technology Management
Aimed at managers, engineers, technologist and scientists involved in overseeing technological change, this qualification focuses on how to manage the operational issues which arise from rapid technological innovation. While the first part of the certificate requires you to take the course Technology management: an integrative approach (T840), the second part of the certificate offers you a choice of a diverse range of topics including Project management, Innovations in eLearning and Enterprise and the environment.
IT skills are now a must for professionals working across a variety of sectors because of the unique way in which it influences an organisation's productivity, performance and competitive edge. This certificate provides an excellent grounding in computing which will enable you to go on and lead and manage technological change in a business environment.
Keen to improve your financial and personal awareness?
Given the current climate, there's never been a better time to get clued up on your personal finances. And while you're at it, you might like to explore the truth behind the headlines by bolstering your knowledge of the kind of social and political factors that can give rise to a recession situation.
You and your money: personal finance in context
This practical course builds your financial knowledge and skills, improves your understanding of personal finance and develops your awareness of its social and economic context.
An introduction to the social sciences: understanding social change
Social science is about people and how they behave, individually and collectively. This accessible course builds on your own experience to investigate major contemporary issues.
