Short Courses in London

London’s looming large on the academic scene and although it offers many prestigious venues for full-time education, it’s also fast becoming a major hub for short course programmes and qualification routes.

So how can the short course route benefit you in the long term … and what additional benefits does a short course in London offer?

The short course route to quick qualification

Many factors are changing our working lives, such as changes to the retirement age which mean that we’re working longer, significant numbers of people swapping careers as a result of the recent credit crunch or the vast number of employees who continue to be shed as large and small companies across many sectors seek ways to reduce their costs. In this career climate, short courses have taken on a new role in bridging the training gap for those who have been out of education for some years and those who want to re-train to suit a new career. In these contexts, short courses offer the benefit of:

• Exploring a new skill without a long-term commitment.
• Exploring new skills and gaining experience without having to give up a paid job.
• A chance to explore something new to enhance job satisfaction.
• Enhancing an existing set of work-related skills to make them more transferable to a potential employer or career change, for example, undertaking an event management short-course to demonstrate existing organisational skills within a specific industry context.
• Taking hobby-related skills to a level where they can offer employment or self-employment benefits or become a legitimate part of a CV.
• Offer a variety of delivery routes to fit in with part-time commitment, for instance once a week across a term or for a whole week at a time, such as in a Summer School event.

London learning

There are many learning hubs within London itself, including the famous UCL, the University of East London, University of Westminster and the University of London, Birbeck College, as well as many more which run short-courses in subjects which each university generally specialises in. Studying the short-course way allows students to expand their knowledge as well as become familiar with studying in London, often as a pre-cursor to committing to longer-term study in the city.

Additionally, London also offers several specialist venues which run short-courses relating to their own dedicated area, such as drama and voice courses at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and veterinary experience short-courses held at the Royal Veterinary College.

London links

London offers itself as an excellent location for short-courses because it is accessible from most parts of the UK and offers good transport and travel links. Additionally, week-long short-course events such as summer schools benefit from the ready-supply of low-cost accommodation across the city and afford access to all of the cities amenities as additional learning resources, for example through:

• Visits to art galleries and museums as part of arts and textiles courses.
• Visits and tours at major venues such as the O2, The Dorchester and The Tower for event management courses.
• Visits to landmark buildings such as St. Paul’s and The Shard for architecture and history courses.
• Access to vital city facilities and additional networks which complement areas of study, such as transport systems and business hubs which facilitate tours, seminars and experiential learning opportunities.

London livelihood

Another aspect that London short-courses offer is accessibility to career building opportunities. Studying in the city of London, a vibrant hub of all kinds of commercial, retail, cultural and leisure and tourism venues offers a fantastic prospect for identifying the career options and those vital career contacts, within the city itself.

This is true for any career you can think of (and have the opportunity to study for) – because the majority of careers are evident in London. Even careers in horticulture, for example, have dedicated venues where such skills are essential, such as London’s many parks and Kew Gardens.

It’s also true that many public services and charities have London addresses and head offices whilst, particularly since the 2012 Olympics, London has been one of the international go-to venues for events, exhibitions and conferences, all of which means an increasing number of career and networking opportunities within the event management, hospitality and tourism sectors specifically.

Overall, whether you’re hoping to study a short course in London for professional or personal development, studying in the city can really be the start of long-term opportunities as well as a lively London learning experience.