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Free online courses

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Our free online courses offer high-quality learning accessible to everyone, anywhere in the world. These flexible, engaging courses are designed to be studied entirely online, supporting you to upskill in key and emerging areas, develop new knowledge to support career progression and deepen your understanding across a wide range of subjects.

You’ll engage with a variety of resources including videos, articles, peer-reviewed assignments, hands-on tasks and interactive quizzes to reinforce your learning. Our courses range from 3-5hrs per week of learning with digital certificate on offer to evidence and showcase your learning.

UofG Online 

Follow UofG Online on LinkedIn to get announcements of new courses, hear directly from our learners and stay informed on all of our online offerings.

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A Global History of Sex and Gender: Bodies and Power in the Modern World

  • Discover how a focus on gender and sexuality transforms our understanding of modern, global history.
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A History of Royal Fashion

  • Explore how British royalty have influenced fashion over the last 500 years, from the Tudors to the Windsors.
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Antiquities Trafficking and Art Crime

  • Delve into the seedy underbelly of the art world, looking at smuggling, theft, fakes, and fraud, with this free online course.
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Basic First Aid: How to Be an Everyday Hero

  • Get an introduction to basic first aid, including how to help someone who is choking, with this first aid course.
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Becoming a Dentist

  • Decide if a dentistry career is right for you. Explore everything from the university application process to daily dentist duties.
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Biomedical Visualisation

  • Visualisation is a rapidly progressive specialty in academia, research and industry, and becoming the future of science.
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Cancer in the 21st Century: The Genomic Revolution

  • Discover how genetics is revolutionising the detection and treatment of the different types of cancer.
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Career Management for Early Career Academic Researchers

  • Explore different career options, learn what you want out of a career and understand how to implement good career decisions.
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Climate and Energy: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

  • Explore climate change issues from an interdisciplinary perspective to find innovative solutions for a better future.
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Communicating Climate Change for Effective Climate Action

  • Develop your climate communication skills as you learn the techniques to empower people to take urgently-needed climate action.
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Cultural impact of housing displacement gentrification

  • This course provides an introduction to gentrification and to the cultural impacts of housing displacement for people in cities and neighbourhoods across the world.
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Data-Driven Leadership Skills

  • Learn how leadership is explicitly dealing with the fourth industrial revolution: the age of data and digital technology.
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Diversity and Inclusion in Education

  • Student diversity is becoming the rule rather than the exception in education systems across the world.
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Early Modern Scottish Palaeography: Reading Scotland's Records

  • Travel back in time through Scottish history by examining early modern Scottish handwriting.
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Ecopedagogy for Beginners: Putting Climate Change Education Into Action

  • Explore practical approaches to teaching sustainability and taking effective climate action in school settings.
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End of Life Care: Challenges and Innovation

  • Explore dying and palliative care practice around the world and evaluate new trends and ideas surrounding end of life care issues.
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Functional Programming in Haskell: Supercharge Your Coding

  • Get an introduction to Haskell, the increasingly popular functional programming language, with this University of Glasgow course.
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Gender-Based Violence: Responding to Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse

  • Expand your understanding of intimate partner violence and abuse (IPVA) and learn how to recognise and support victims of abuse.
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Generative AI for Healthcare Students and Professionals

  • Explore real world clinical case studies of AI.
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Generative AI in Education

  • Discover the foundations of generative AI in our dynamic course.
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Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPTs)

  • Discover GPT's transformative impact on human-computer interaction. Delve into natural language processing, Transformer mechanics, and ethical considerations. Hands-on labs and quizzes included.
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Getting Started with Teaching Data Science in Schools

  • Learn the basics of data science and how to introduce data science in the classroom.
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History of Slavery in the British Caribbean

  • Explore the history and legacy of British colonial slavery and oppression in the Caribbean through historical slave accounts.
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Interpreting for Refugees: Contexts, Practices and Ethics

  • Learn skills to meet the challenges of interpreting for refugees and share your experiences with other interpreters in the sector.
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Introduction to Breastfeeding for Medical Students

  • This short module is designed to support first year medical students to understand the importance of breastfeeding in the UK.
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Introduction to Climate Justice and Equity

  • Learn how climate equity and justice can help the most vulnerable people address the effects of climate change.
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Introduction to Critical Care Medicine

  • Learn how to handle complex issues faced in Critical Care Units when other options on the ward have been exhausted.
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Introduction to Teaching Sustainability and Climate Action

  • Discover the role that learning for sustainability and climate action has to play in tackling the climate crisis.
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MBA Essentials

  • Learners will delve into the vital components of the MBA experience, gaining essential knowledge, fostering the right attitude, and preparing for the challenges that lie ahead.
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Mindfulness: A Focus on Adolescents

  • Get a hands-on introduction to mindfulness and its benefits.
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Multilingual Learning for a Globalised World

  • This free online course will explore multilingual education and how it can impact and improve education and even wider society.
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Plurilingual Classrooms in Action

  • Develop your understanding of learning and teaching languages to explore the transformative role of languages in education.
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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the Global Context

  • Learn how to identify, assess the risk for, prevent and treat PTSD in a range of contexts.
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Research Impact: Making a Difference

  • Help your work to benefit society and the economy. Learn what research impact is and how to create it.
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Robert Burns: Poems, Songs and Legacy

  • Dig deeper into the life and works of Robert Burns, with this free University of Glasgow course.
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Safeguarding in Collaborative Research and International Development: Contexts,

  • Learn fundamental safeguarding principles and how to adapt them to suit whatever research contexts you may encounter.
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So You Want to Study Life Science?

  • Explore the exciting subjects within life sciences and the rewarding careers that studying life sciences at university lead to.
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Study Medicine: Applying for Medical School and Becoming a Medical Student

  • On this course, you’ll explore the process of becoming a doctor and learn what to expect from your time at medical school and beyond.
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Supporting young people’s mental wellbeing post-COVID

  • Reflect on how the COVID pandemic may have impacted young people’s mental wellbeing and explore ways to support them.
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Tackling Climate Change: Sustainable Business Models for a Circular Economy

  • Discover how circular economies and business models enable sustainability and help respond to the climate emergency.
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TESOL Strategies: Supporting ESL Students in Mainstream Classrooms

  • Learn the basic principles, considerations and strategies for cultivating a rich language-learning environment
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The Life and Afterlife of Mary Queen of Scots

  • Explore the 16th century life of Mary Queen of Scots, and her place in cultural history in the centuries that followed.
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The Right to Education: Breaking Down the Barriers

  • How can we support those who are marginalised and excluded from education? Does education for all, mean all?
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The Scottish Highland Clans: Origins, Decline and Transformation

  • Discover the important history of the Highland clans
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Understanding and Measuring the Earth’s Energy Imbalance

  • Learn how greenhouse gases are pushing the Earth out of balance, and why measuring the imbalance could prove crucial.
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Understanding Suicide and Suicide Prevention Strategies in a Global Context

  • Develop an understanding of suicide in a global context. Learn about suicide risk factors and ways to help prevent it.
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Uniting for a Sustainable Future: An Introduction to Global Sustainability

  • How do we create a sustainable future? Discover the path to global sustainability and how to take sustainable steps in your life.
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Working Supportively With Refugees: Principles, Skills and Perspectives

  • Learn how the principles of psychological well-being, communication and interpretation can benefit your work with refugees
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