Open Centre for Languages and Cultures

The Open Centre for Languages and Cultures is the exciting new home for non-accredited language and intercultural communication short courses. You can study a wide range of language and language related subjects with us anywhere in the world, in any time zone, whatever your motivation – leisure, professional development or academic. 

It’s the one stop shop for engaging with languages, professional communication and intercultural dialogue.

Our short courses allow us to be agile and responsive to the needs of learners who want to be part of a global society. We offer non-accredited short courses in a range of subjects including modern languages, languages for business and the workplace and languages for health and social care. We are also leading the way in short courses for academic research methods and pre-sessional English with IELTS.

The Open Centre for Languages and Cultures is an international leader in online language learning and intercultural communications, built on our pioneering pedagogy and research.

What is non-accredited learning?

All courses are non-accredited but can count towards accredited learning, if you decided to study for an OU degree. There are lots of benefits of studying non-accredited courses with us:

• You can study to help career development or for personal interest.
• You’ll receive a digital badge in recognition of what you’ve learnt and guidance on how to set up an Open Badge Passport.
• You’ll acquire specific knowledge (in languages) and transferable skills (in intercultural communication).
• The courses are much shorter than undergraduates or postgraduate degrees.
• They are more affordable than accredited study programmes.
• Learning can be turned into to accredited learning through our ‘Making your learning count’ module.

*Non-accredited courses are not connected to a recognised qualification or professional body.

What is a digital badge?

Digital badges support learning beyond traditional qualifications and are a way of showing that you are mastering clearly defined skills as outlined by the award criteria. These are embedded into your badge and easily accessible by employers from around the globe looking for suitable candidates.

Each time you complete one of our short courses, you will earn a digital badge that you’ll be able to claim in recognition of your newly acquired skills. There is no limit to the number of badges you can earn.   

Embedded behind the design of the digital badge is the metadata that is evidence of what you have learnt as a result of the course.