Free courses
Produced by The Open University, a world leader in open and distance learning, all OpenLearn courses are free to study. We offer nearly 1000 free courses across 9 different subject areas. Our courses are available to start right away.
- All topics
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level 2: intermediate icon
Health, Sports & Psychology
Exercise and mental health
Each year thousands of pounds are spent on medications to treat conditions such as anxiety and depression. These medications often have negative side effects. Exercise is an alternative treatment that is low cost and has few side effects. In this free course, Exercise and mental health, we will look at the links between exercise and improved ...
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level 3: advanced icon
Money & Business
Estimating the cost of equity
This free course, Estimating the cost of equity, looks at how to estimate the cost of equity using the dividend valuation model (DVM) and the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), and how to evaluate the use of the DVM and the CAPM from a financial and strategic perspective. It then explores the implications regarding selection of the inputs to ...
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level 3: advanced icon
Money & Business
Employee engagement
Engagement is a key buzzword in 21st century management. Strategic human resource management rests on the belief that people are the key to achieving competitive advantage. Employees need to be seen as assets to be developed, not costs to be controlled. This free course explores three key themes: employee engagement, employee involvement and ...
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level 3: advanced icon
Money & Business
Challenges in advanced management accounting
This free course, Challenges in advanced management accounting, focuses on strategic management accounting and selected concepts and techniques. It will help you to successfully navigate mid- to long-term challenges to creating sustainable organisations. This OpenLearn course requires a prior understanding of basic management accounting approaches.
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level 3: advanced icon
Money & Business
Building relationships with donors
Legacy fundraising and big-gift seeking are part of the professional fundraiser's role. This free course, Building relationships with donors, will help you to gain the skills necessary to persuade individuals to become donors. How do you change people's ideas about methods of giving, moving them from casual street donations to regular direct ...
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Money & Business
Commercial awareness
This short course encourages you to look across your organisation, at your place within it and the value you create. It considers how getting different perspectives and widening existing ones within your organisation can enhance commercial awareness.
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level 1: introductory icon
Money & Business
Different types of business
A small grocery store run by one person and perhaps their family must pose quite different challenges from a multinational corporation with operations in many different countries. This free course introduces different types of business, depending on industry sector, size and type of ownership and discusses some of the ways in which businesses ...
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level 1: introductory icon
Money & Business
Business communication: writing a SWOT analysis
This free course, Business communication: writing a SWOT analysis, is designed to develop your writing skills for business. You will be taken step by step through the process of writing a SWOT analysis, with clear advice on selecting key information from a case study text, making concise notes, choosing an appropriate structure and using ...
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level 3: advanced icon
Money & Business
Asset allocation in investment
This course looks at how to take investor objectives and constraints and turn them into a portfolio which aims at achieving an expected return and level of risk appropriate for the investor. In this free course, Asset allocation in investment, portfolio optimisation techniques such as portfolio theory can be used to determine how much of an ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
Money & Business
Human resources: recruitment and selection
Does the recruitment and selection process fill you with dread? Discrimination and equal opportunities legislation can make this area feel like a minefield. If you are faced with appointing a new employee then this free course, Human resources: recruitment and selection, will provide a straightforward guide to the process: from writing job ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Seeing institutions in different ways
To help you to understand the complexity of institutional development, this free course, Seeing institutions in different ways, will present institutions in three key ways: as rules and norms, as meanings and values and as big players. The rules govern social life and the norms establish how people should behave, while institutional development ...
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Money & Business
Liquidity management
In this free course you will focus on liquidity management, one of the fundamental aspects relating to risk management that has come under intense scrutiny in the past few years.