Complete a free OpenLearn course and earn the statement of participation
A friend has invited you to do this with them.
The Open University gives away hundreds of short courses written by its own academics, from astronomy to law. You can start one this evening and study at whatever pace suits you.
GentleFreeA few weeksIndoorsOn your own
Someone who has done it
How to start
- Browse the OpenLearn catalogue and shortlist three courses that catch your eye.
- Create a free account so your progress is tracked.
- Block out two study sessions a week until the final section is done.
Where to go
We opened this link on 6 October 2026 and found it to be what we say. Dates, places and prices are on the official page, where they stay up to date.
Plan this
Pick a day, or a month, and we will set out how to get ready, step by step, with a date and a reason for each. Projects run over months and stall without a rhythm, so the plan sets milestones you can see.
From the site
Going back to study: Open University, community colleges, free courses and how to fund it
The realistic options for studying as an adult: the Open University, u3a, FutureLearn and Coursera, US community colleges and state tuition waivers for older residents, plus the UK Advanced Learner Loan, part-time student finance and the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.
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“Education has no expiration”: Virginia Ordaz and her mother finished their degrees in the same class
How a retired fire dispatcher from Stockton, California, finished the degree she started in 1989, and how her mother finished hers more than 40 years after her last class. How to find out what your own old credits are worth, in the US and the UK.
Sixty paper hats on a table in Bridlington: David Smith and the shape mathematicians had sought for decades
David Smith of Bridlington, a hobbyist with no training in mathematics, found 'the hat': the first single shape known to cover a flat surface only in patterns that never repeat. How he found it, why he could not prove it alone, and the free tools that let you put the same tiles on your own table.