Online short courses and events
Join a worldwide community of adult learners
Explore a topic in depth over one or two days; extend your knowledge over several weeks with a lecture series or a weekly learning programme.
Explore the different online course types below.
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Short online courses (Flexible): These have no live-time meetings, so you can study when it suits you.
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Short online courses (Live): These have weekly 1-hour online meetings to attend.
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Day and weekend events: Include livestreamed lectures and small online workshops.
Upcoming courses
Online - flexible • Short courses
How did three sisters from a quiet Yorkshire village create some of the most powerful and imaginative works in English literature? Discover the world behind the Brontës' extraordinary writing.
- Wed 21 Jan 2026 – 10 Apr 2026
Online - flexible • Short courses
Reasoning enables us to acquire knowledge, to persuade others and to evaluate their arguments. But only if we reason well. We shall be learning how to recognise, evaluate, construct and analyse arguments, and how to recognise common fallacies.
- Wed 21 Jan 2026 – 10 Apr 2026
Online - flexible • Short courses
Explore big moral questions through the ideas of Aristotle, Kant, Hume and Mill. This course introduces key ethical theories and applies them to real-life issues like animal rights and euthanasia, with space for reflection and discussion.
- Wed 21 Jan 2026 – 10 Apr 2026
Online - flexible • Short courses
This course is for anyone interested in understanding Islamic art and culture, and examines the relationship between faith and art forms.
- Wed 21 Jan 2026 – 10 Apr 2026
Online - flexible • Short courses
This course is designed to enable you to 'read' the architecture of the Western world in a critically informed way.
- Wed 21 Jan 2026 – 10 Apr 2026
Online - flexible • Short courses
This course introduces key issues in the philosophy of science, including debates about the nature of the scientific method, theories of confirmation, the demarcation of science from non-science, the rationality of theory change, and scientific realism.
- Wed 21 Jan 2026 – 10 Apr 2026
Flexible learning with Oxford
As well as short online courses, we also offer flexible Oxford University qualifications and professional development programmes. Many can be studied fully online, some require short residencies in Oxford.
Short online courses
Our short online courses are taught in two alternative teaching formats - flexible or live. All of these courses are usually 10 weeks long.Distance learning
Study with Oxford from anywhere in the world. From part-time Oxford University qualifications and professional development programmes (CPD), to online short courses.Low-residency programmes
Our low-residency programmes allow students the flexibility of studying primarily from home, with short residential stays in Oxford.Continuing professional development
Professional development with Oxford University. From short courses and training in Oxford and online to flexible graduate programmes and bespoke courses.