Open Learning

Open learning aims to remove the education barriers to people without the usual formal educational history, making learning open to everyone. Courses generally have no entry requirements, no upper age limit and range from short courses for people who have never studied before to specialist programmes aimed at postgraduates.

Although there are no formal entry requirements (such as GCSEs or A levels), you may be required to study a pre-requisite course before enrolling on some programmes; however, in many cases the pre-requisite will count towards the later qualification if you continue on to do it.

The Open University

One of the most popular open learning institutes is the Open University (OU). With over two million people taking courses, the OU is the largest university in Europe. Gaining an OU qualification not only proves your academic success, but also shows that you have ambition, commitment and self discipline.

learndirect

learndirect has been developed by Ufi (University for industry) to provide high quality learning for adults who want to improve their existing skills or to learn new ones. It offers more than 550 different courses covering a range of subjects, including Skills for Life, IT, management and languages; more than 75% of the courses are available online. Since its launch in 2000 over 1 million students have enrolled on almost 3 million courses.

Courses are designed to allow you to learn at a time, place and pace to suit you. Free taster courses are available through the learndirect web site and the network of over 2,000 learndirect centres can help you with your local learning needs.