Students know more than most just how much a degree costs, particularly if you go on to do postgraduate courses. Open University degrees are always cheaper than regular ones as they’re online. But did you know they actually offer lots of courses for free?
Whilst many students would agree that a university degree is worth the money, the huge amount puts a lot of people off. If you then find you want knowledge in another area as well, doing another university course is a huge time and financial commitment.
The Open University offers thousands of courses at a discounted price all because it takes place online and in your own time. However, they also offer hundreds of courses that won’t cost you a thing. Though they won’t be classed as university degrees, they will add that little extra to your CV.
Free Open University Courses
The free Open University courses are across 8 different subjects:
- Health, Sports & Psychology
- Education & Development
- History & The Arts
- Languages
- Money & Business,
- Nature & Environment
- Science, Maths & Technology
- Society, Politics & Law
The courses range from 1 hour up to 5 and come in either introductory, intermediate or advanced levels. There’s an option to search for your desired area so you don’t have to look through all the many hundreds of courses either.
The Most Popular Free Open University Courses
Here are some of the most popular courses to get you inspired about your learning.
Science, Maths and Technology: Understanding Autism, Information security, and Introduction to cyber security.
Money & Business: Managing money for young adults, Introduction to bookkeeping and accounting, and Midlife MOT: wealth, worth and wellbeing.
Education & Development: English: Skills for learning, Youth justice in the UK: children, young people and crime, and Succeeding in postgraduate study.
Health, Sports & Psychology: Exploring learning disabilities: supporting belonging, Forensic psychology and social psychology and politics.
History & The Arts: Getting started on ancient Greek, Health and well-being in the ancient world, and A freelance career in the creative arts.
Languages: Getting started with Spanish 1, Gaelic in modern Scotland and Everyday English 1.
Nature & Environment: Energy in buildings, Climate change, Sustainable Scotland.
Society, Politics & Law: Working in the voluntary sector, Justice and the law, Getting started with a SPSS.
Each course has a rating out of 5 and you’re guaranteed a free statement of participation when you have completed the course. There’s no limit to how many you can take either, so if you want to study Ancient Greek one day, but Creative Writing the next, then there is nothing stopping you!
Before you sign up, the courses have a description, content and review page so you be assured that it’s definitely the course for you before you begin.
How To Enroll With The Open University
Getting onto a course at OU is really simple. Just create an account, or log in if you already have one and pick the course you want to study. By having an account, you’ll be able to save where you got up to and get your statement of participation.
It is possible to download and study the courses without an account. Just download the file onto your computer, or follow along with it on the website. However, your data may not be saved and you won’t get your statement of participation.
It’s never been easier to fill in those gaps or expand on an interest or passion. When all of the above and so much more a free, it’s only finding the time to complete them that’s the issue!
