Short courses and events
Study with Oxford online or in person
Start or continue your learning journey with Oxford Lifelong Learning at any time of life!
You’ll join a highly diverse learning community: students of all ages, from all backgrounds and from all over the world. Learn more about the different types of open-access short courses we offer below.
- Day and weekend events run in person or online, with some offered in both formats. Explore a topic in depth over one or two days with multiple speakers, hone your skills in small workshops and hands-on practical sessions, or explore the city of Oxford with a walking tour.
- Lecture series are a series of weekly lectures on a given topic, providing a comprehensive introduction to your chosen subject. All can be watched online, with many taking place in a hybrid format – so you can choose to attend online or in person.
- Weekly learning programmes include courses that meet weekly in Oxford, online courses with live sessions, and flexible online courses.
- Professional development short courses are designed with academic experts from across the University and beyond, allowing professional learners from across the globe the opportunity to benefit from Oxford University's excellence in research and teaching.
- Summer schools: Join us in Oxford for personal enrichment, academic progression or professional development. Many summer schools can be taken for credit; others require no coursework and are non-assessed.
Upcoming courses
In-person weekly • Short courses
Discover what makes opera unique by exploring the poetry of the libretto through the artistry of the composer, singers, and the vision of producers. Examine the different elements that fuse into this most complete of all art forms.
- Mon 03 Nov 2025 – Mon 01 Dec 2025
- 5 meetings
- 2:00 – 4:00pm
In-person weekly • Short courses
Explore animal history in this five-week introductory course. Discover how humans have studied and represented animals' stories, and enjoy a rare behind-the-scenes visit to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
- Thu 06 Nov 2025 – Thu 04 Dec 2025
- 5 meetings
- 3:00 – 5:00pm
In-person weekly • Short courses
Explore tough ethical questions in clinical decision-making. Examine ethical issues in clinical contexts, analyse real-life cases, and gain practical skills to make wise, principled decisions while valuing diverse perspectives.
- Fri 07 Nov 2025 – Fri 05 Dec 2025
- 5 meetings
- 2:00 – 4:00pm
Online - live • Short courses • Lecture series • Hybrid - in person or online
Learn more about Soviet foreign policy post WWI in this hybrid lecture.
- Fri 07 Nov 2025
- 2:00 – 3:30pm
Short intensive • Short courses • Professional development
This five-day course focuses on emerging areas of medicine using nucleic acids as drugs and using treatments based on stem cells and bioengineered tissues, including the combined technologies reflecting uses of genetically modified stem cells.
- Mon 10 Nov 2025 – 14 Nov 2025
Online - live • Short courses
This online day school introduces the brain and key topics of neuroscience. We will study biological theories in the context of psychology, covering basic brain neuroanatomy and linking it to human behaviour and mind functions such as learning and sleep.
- Thu 13 Nov 2025
- 10:00am – 5:00pm
