Microcredentials

Upskill with our growing range of microcredentials. These professional development short courses are designed to help you quickly build in-demand career skills and knowledge to stay up to date with relevant and emerging practices, progress in growing industries, and get ahead.

Find out more

Postgraduate course registration closes 9 October. Don’t miss out.

96% of learners rated the skills
learnt as good or excellent

Futureproof your career with a microcredential

Gain specialised skills in just 10–12 weeks with flexible online learning delivered on our social learning partner platform, FutureLearn.

Created by world-class OU academics and with many endorsed by leading industry partners, microcredentials offer a perfect balance of academic excellence and workplace relevance.

With 10–13 hours of study per week, you can gain:

cutting-edge knowledge in a specialised subject, informed by world-class academics
practical skills you can immediately apply to your work or boost your CV
undergraduate or postgraduate credit you could use in the future towards further study by counting microcredentials towards OU qualifications.

You can start your learning in March, June or October. Prices from £275. See our FAQs for more about microcredentials.

Delivered in partnership with FutureLearn

Some of our industry partners

Agile Business Consortium
Association for Learning Technology
AWS Academy
Cisco Networking Academy
Mental Health Foundation
The Royal Photographic Society

My line manager said that while these courses have greatly enabled my personal and professional development, they have also prepared me for taking on senior management responsibilities, and that the skills I have developed will be invaluable in driving our organisation through a process of digital transformation.
Tommy Breslin, Microcredential Learner

Find a microcredential

Choose from Leadership and Management | Computing and Digital Technologies | Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability | Teacher Development and Inclusive Learning | Health and Social Care

Leadership and Management

Agile Leadership and Management (TZFM850)

Develop Agile Leadership skills to support your professional development and lead highly engaged teams in the 21st century.

Duration 12 weeks

Level Postgraduate

Business Management: Financial Accounting for Non-Financial Roles (BZFM306)

Develop your accounting skills and knowledge to interpret financial statements, measure business performance and assess financial health.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

Business Management: Fundamentals of Management Accounting (BZFM305)

Develop your accounting skills and knowledge to help you make better business decisions and achieve your professional goals.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

Business Management: Improving Organisational Practice (BZFM302)

Grow your management skills, adapt to change successfully, and have a positive impact on the performance of your organisation.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

Business Management: Marketing Principles and Practice (BZFM301)

Learn how to apply key marketing techniques to enhance your performance and make better business decisions.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

Business Management: People Management and Leadership (BZFM303)

Gain critical people management and leadership skills to support your organisation and boost your career.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

Business Management: Project Management (BZFM304)

Develop the skills and knowledge you need to lead or contribute to successful projects, and take your career to the next level.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

Management of Change: Organisation Development and Design (BZFM802)

Discover tools and concepts of human centred management and design, and develop skills to manage and lead in the 21st century.

Duration 12 weeks

Level Postgraduate

Management of Uncertainty: Leadership, Decisions and Action (BZFM801)

Develop greater leadership skills and learn to make effective decisions in conditions of radical uncertainty.

Duration 12 weeks

Level Postgraduate

Computing and Digital Technologies

AWS: Machine Learning Foundations (TZFM261)

Develop highly sought-after skills to design and deploy machine learning models on the cloud with the AWS Academy.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

AWS: Solutions Architect (TZFM361)

Learn best practices and strategies to guide the implementation of cloud services on AWS with OU AWS Academy Experts.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

Cisco: CCNA - Introduction to Networks (TZFM162)

Build the foundations in infrastructure networking and boost your career as a network engineer with Cisco and The Open University.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

Cisco: DevOps using DevNet (TZFM362)

Gain industry-focused DevOps skills to develop and manage networked systems with this Cisco-endorsed course.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

Cisco: Python Programming (OpenEDG) (TZFM163)

Prepare for a future in programming as you learn from experts at Cisco and The Open University.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

Cyber Security Operations (Cisco) (TZFM862)

Upskill in cyber security operations and enhance your working knowledge of cyber security with this Cisco-endorsed course.

Duration 12 weeks

Level Postgraduate

Digital Photography: Discover your Genre and Develop your Style (TZFM201)

In collaboration with the Royal Photographic Society, take the next steps in your photography journey by exploring different genres and finding your style.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability

Climate Change: Transforming your Organisation for Sustainability (TZFM320)

Develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead change for sustainability in your organisation.

Duration 10 weeks

Level Undergraduate

Teacher Development and Inclusive Learning

Developing Educational Leadership in Practice (EZFM803)

Gain critical skills to become a leader in education and put the latest theories and research in the field into practice.

Duration 12 weeks

Level Postgraduate

Mentoring and Coaching in Professional Learning (EZFM802)

Learn how to lead professional learning through effective mentoring and coaching, with The Open University.

Duration 12 weeks

Level Postgraduate

Online Teaching: Accessibility and Inclusive Learning (HZFM884)

Enhance your online teaching by understanding and improving accessibility for students with disabilities or additional needs.

Duration 12 weeks

Level Postgraduate

Online Teaching: Creating Courses for Adult Learners (HZFM881)

Learn the practical skills you need to build and deliver online courses successfully, and develop your ability to teach adults online.

Duration 12 weeks

Level Postgraduate

Online Teaching: Embedding Social, Race and Gender-Related Equity (HZFM885)

Discover how to embed equity in your online teaching and support equitable participation for all students.

Duration 12 weeks

Level Postgraduate

Online Teaching: Evaluating and Improving Courses (HZFM882)

Develop the skills you need to evaluate the success of your online teaching and enhance your students’ remote learning experience.

Duration 12 weeks

Level Postgraduate

Teacher Development: Embedding Mental Health in the Curriculum (HZFM883)

Develop inclusive learning that enhances student mental health and wellbeing using the application of Universal Design for Learning.

Duration 12 weeks

Level Postgraduate

Health and Social Care

Mental Health: Working with Children and Young People (KZFM801)

Develop critical knowledge to identify and address mental health issues in children and young people.

Duration 12 weeks

Level Postgraduate

Frequently Asked Questions

You may have some questions about Open University microcredentials. We’ve listed some common questions below, but if you can’t see what you were looking for, please get in touch.

FutureLearn is a leading social learning platform formed in 2012 by The Open University with the objective to offer a diverse selection of online courses from leading universities and cultural institutions from around the world. It’s now owned by Global University Systems and has 18 million learners signed up worldwide. It partners with over a quarter of the world’s top universities as well as organisations such as Accenture, the British Council, CIPD, Raspberry Pi and Health Education England (HEE). It’s also involved in government-backed initiatives to address skills gaps such as The Institute of Coding and the National Centre for Computing Education.

Microcredentials are studied entirely online. You’ll use a combination of learning materials, videos, and quizzes to develop skills that you can immediately apply. You’ll share ideas and experiences with other learners, building skills, confidence, and knowledge.

You’ll also be supported by a Mentor who has an excellent understanding of the course subject; their role is to guide discussions and answer questions.

As microcredentials are offered by our partner, FutureLearn, you’ll register directly with them. You’ll first need a FutureLearn account, which you can create through their website. Once you’ve created your account, you’ll be able to register for your chosen microcredential.

Payments can be made by credit or debit card (Visa, Mastercard and American Express) or via PayPal.

After you have registered on the course with FutureLearn, you will have 14 days from the day the course starts to request a refund.

Microcredentials are designed to fit around your life and time zone. There may be live events as part of your studies, but these will be recorded and can be watched afterwards, if you aren’t able to participate in the live broadcast.

Everything else can be studied at your own pace, as long as you complete the final assessment by the specified date.

Microcredentials are designed to be studied from almost anywhere in the world.

Potentially, yes. Microcredentials are stand-alone courses designed to meet specific learner and employer needs. Those awarded by The Open University have academic credit value at either undergraduate or postgraduate level, and, if appropriate, this may be used towards selected OU qualifications. For more details, including eligible qualifications, visit Counting microcredentials towards OU qualifications.

The credit awarded may potentially be used at another university, subject to the agreement of the receiving institution.

Micro​credentials

REGISTER NOW FOR COURSES STARTING IN OCTOBER

Futureproof your career with a microcredential

Some of our industry partners

Some of our industry partners

Find a microcredential

Leadership and Management

Computing and Digital Technologies

Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability

Teacher Development and Inclusive Learning

Health and Social Care

Frequently Asked Questions

Short courses may also interest you

Business Management: Marketing Principles and Practice

Business Management: Improving Organisational Practice

Business Management: People Management and Leadership

Business Management: Project Management

Business Management: Fundamentals of Management Accounting

Business Management: Financial Accounting for Non-Financial Roles

Management of Change: Organisation Development and Design

Management of Uncertainty: Leadership, Decisions and Action

Mentoring and Coaching in Professional Learning

Developing Educational Leadership in Practice

Online Teaching: Creating courses for Adult Learners

Online Teaching: Evaluating and Improving Courses

Teacher Development: Embedding Mental Health in the Curriculum

Online Teaching: Accessibility and Inclusive Learning

Online Teaching: Embedding Social, Race and Gender-Related Equity

Mental Health: Working with Children and Young People

Cisco: CCNA - Introduction to Networks

Cisco: Python Programming (OpenEDG)

Cisco: Linux Essentials (NDG/LPI)

Digital Photography: Discover your genre and develop your style

AWS: Machine Learning Foundations

Cisco: C++ Programming (OpenEDG)

Cisco: CCNA - Switching, Wireless and Routing Essentials (SWRE)

Climate Change: Transforming your Organisation for Sustainability

AWS: Solutions Architect

Cisco: DevOps using DevNet

Agile Leadership and Management

Cyber Security Operations (Cisco)

Where do you live?

Microcredentials

Cisco: DevOps using DevNet