The Open University offers a range of flexible online Professional Skills courses designed for continuing professional development; they will help you develop the skills you need in your career. They deliver skills, knowledge and ideas that you can immediately apply in practice.
Courses normally take no longer than 30 hours to complete, so you can fit your study around your work and your life. These courses aren’t accredited, so you can’t count them towards a qualification.
Unrivalled benefits
Many professional bodies recommend OU courses as being: accessible; relevant to your work; flexible, to fit around your professional and personal life; and value for money compared with two- or three-day full-time courses that take you away from the workplace. Some courses differ slightly in their format, but typically you will:
- start and complete an online course whenever it suits you; they usually take 30 hours or fewer, and you can spread this study over whatever time period you choose
- be able to work from the comfort of your own home or office
- you will access our clearly presented, high-quality materials via the protected course website, or you can print out key materials to work offline
- have access to expert tuition from a learning adviser who can answer your questions on course materials, and help you relate the course to your needs
- network and share learning with other professionals through an electronic forum; many courses have profession-exclusive pathways and wikis
- complete a course by submitting an electronic work-based assignment that shows how you are using the learning to achieve work-based outcomes
- benefit from personal expert feedback on the above from your learning adviser
- receive a certificate you can use as evidence of your continuing professional development for employers and/or professional bodies.
The strong link between course learning and your work practice creates relevant, enduring and transferable outcomes.
Why do professional skills courses with the OU?
The Open University, and its Business School, caters for the continuing professional development needs of thousands of executives and professionals every year, by offering flexible, accessible and value-for-money courses. Each course is based on our ability to deliver learning that chimes with personal or organisational circumstances and situations, rather than requiring regular classroom attendance. We work closely with employers, sector skills councils and professional bodies to design courses that match the needs of your sector.
