Oxford University offers short and part-time courses for adult learners, in person and online

Start of further your learning journey at any time of life with Oxford University’s Department of Continuing Education. You’ll join a highly diverse and vibrant learning community embedded in a world-class university, formed of students of all ages, from all backgrounds and from all over the world.

Courses designed for you

Explore the curious, mysterious or perplexing! Whether you wish to learn for personal interest or professional development, have previous experience or are a complete beginner, we have a course for you.

“Explore the curious, mysterious or perplexing!”

Short courses include day schools, weekend events and weekly learning programmes and run in person or online, with some offered in both formats so you can choose how to join. Part-time undergraduate and postgraduate programmes are delivered in a range of formats including mostly or fully online, blending learning (a mix of online and in-person) or through regular in-person meetings.

Our courses are all designed for adult learners and are offered in subject areas including creative writing, literature, history, philosophy, technology, sustainability, economics, languages and more.

Learn from experts in their field

Learn, explore and debate with our highly skilled tutors and expert speakers, who all have a deep passion for their subject and a depth of knowledge in their field.

Many of our tutors and speakers are working professionals, providing real-time practical insight and case studies, others are world-renowned for their research and contribution to developing knowledge and improvements in a particular area.

Celebrating 145 years of adult learning

This year, Oxford Continuing Education will celebrate its 145th anniversary. Since our inception in 1878, the Department has offered a unique route into an Oxford education for adult learners. What we share with the rest of the University is a commitment to excellence, to supporting every student to learn and grow, and to nurturing intellectual curiosity and self-confidence.

Visit Oxford University Department for Continuing Education or scan the QR code.

Junaid Mubeen from Oxfordshire is a mathematician turned educator, who is also a series winner of Countdown, and expert advisor to non-profit children’s free online game Teach Your Monster Number Skills. He shares some tips to make numbers add up to fun

For adults and children alike, maths can sometimes be daunting. Yet when explored the right way, the subject can be fun and accessible for everyone.

The key is to embed strong foundations from a young age. The skills and confidence that we acquire as children can have a lasting, positive impact on our relationship with mathematics. A good command of numbers depends far less on rote learning the times tables and far more on exploring their patterns and structure. Numbers are all around us, and so too are opportunities to interact with them in a playful way.

Here are some quick, easy and playful tips on how to develop children’s core number skills such as arithmetic, estimation and comparison, without any of the dread. They’ll have so much fun they won’t even realise they are learning!

At the shops: Shops are a playground for numbers. Compare the cost of different brands of the same item: which is cheaper? Grab a bag of apples and a bag of carrots – which one feels the heaviest?

“Shops are a playground for numbers.”

At dinner time: From the prep, to the cooking, eating and clearing away, numbers are entwined into all aspects of mealtimes. Ask your child how long they think it will take to cook dinner. Or how much cutlery is needed. Or who can look forward to the most items of food on their plate.

On a day trip: Whether on foot, wheels or public transport, a trip out is an opportunity to search for numbers. Are there more cars or lorries? What numbers can you spot on the licence plates? How many people, roughly, are travelling on the train?

At the park: A playground is an oasis of numbers! Count how many steps it takes to climb up to the top of the play structure. Now make the climb – how close was the prediction? Are they tired as a result of underestimating or raring to go for more?

Tidy up time: For the ultimate win-win, get kids involved in the household chores. How many pairs of socks can they match from the clean washing pile? How many items can they pick up off the floor? Can they arrange the collected items in size order? How long does it take to put them all away?

Free digital games: There are many learning apps – try the free online game Teach Your Monster Number Skills for 3+ year olds. Set in a maths theme park, with friendly monsters roaming around, it has multiple activities that bring each number to life through puzzles and activities. There are eight mini maths games, each with 10 levels. The game is so effective at boosting kids’ confidence with numbers and at making maths fun. My daughter loves it!

Visit Teach Your Monster Number Skills.

Many independent schools offer financial assistance to pupils through bursaries and scholarships, but what do they mean and how can they help?

I was lucky enough to benefit from a bursary enabling me to attend a local independent school, albeit more years ago now than I would care to remember, and to this day I am grateful for that opportunity, writes Karen Neville

A bursary is a grant awarded to a pupil enabling them to study at a fee-paying school which may not otherwise be possible. Independent schools offer means-tested fee assistance widening the access for families from all walks of life.

For many children the opportunities they enjoy in these schools is transformational – the smaller class sizes were definitely one of the aspects I benefitted from. Means-tested bursaries and scholarships currently account for around £480million of support per year. A third of all pupils educated by Independent Schools Council members receive fee assistance.

To quality for a bursary a parent or guardian will need to complete a financial assessment to establish whether the child meets the criteria, this is then usually re-assessed each year the bursary is required. It’s also worth noting that schools may look at other assets a family had and assess outgoings such as holidays, as-well as taking into account other financial commitments including the number of other children or dependents.

Some schools also have access to funds to help with the costs of uniform, books and trips too.

Scholarships are a form of financial aid for pupils who are gifted either academically, in music or sport and rather than being means-tested are based on the child’s abilities. They are often highly competitive with only a limited number being offered each year. It is possible to apply for both a bursary and a scholarship and the amount offered will vary from school to school.

If you are considering independent school education for your child and are likely to need some sort of financial assistance. It’s always worthwhile looking into the options sooner rather than later as places are highly contested and limited.

The most important consideration is your child – is an independent school education the right path? Don’t pressure them to go if they really don’t want to, settling into a new school without families faces of friends who may be going to other local schools, can be hard. There will also be entrance exams and interviews to negotiate, not every child’s cup of tea.