Since 2020, the University of Cambridge has been designing online courses to meet emerging skill needs in workforces across the globe – here are some of the results in 2025 we’re most proud of.

We launched Cambridge Advance Online in 2020, to make University of Cambridge insights, teaching and research accessible to professionals internationally.

“The courses are truly a transformative experience for learners and businesses with their applied nature and the special Cambridge cohort learning experience, interacting and learning live with Cambridge academics tutors and each other,” shares Ellen Wilson, Director of Cambridge Online Education.

96% of learners consistently rate our courses as good or excellent

We’re incredibly proud of our consistently high course ratings. Every one of our courses is carefully crafted by our learning designers to be interactive, engaging and memorable. They’re also rigorously reviewed and approved by our Online Education Committee, made up of faculty from across the University, to make sure they meet the high standards of the University of Cambridge.

Over the years, we’ve worked with over 55 academics across 16 departments and institutes across the University of Cambridge, to design courses on topics from AI to ESG, and semiconductors to business communication. We’ve also trained hundreds of Cambridge tutors to deliver our courses online.

Vilija Vainaite, who took Strategic Risk Management in the Age of AI, which launched in 2025, said:

“A big Thank You to the teaching staff and the tutors for your dedication to Strategic Risk Management. Your genuine interest in the materials has reflected in the live sessions and the detailed feedback on submitted assignments, enhancing the learning experience for me as a participant.”

We’ve reached over 4,200 learners in 103 countries

“The reach is unparallelled. I am being contacted by people and academics from all over the world for the fantastic testimonials we receive from those who take the courses,” shares Professor Per Ola Kristensson, Professor of Interactive Systems Engineering, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge.

Per Ola has co-designed two Cambridge Advance Online courses: Generative AI in Business and Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) for AI Systems Design.

“The social impact across the world from the course is really visible to see,” Per Ola adds. “Learners love doing the live sessions and in fact, I was leading one today and the learners were so switched on and engaged with the material. It's something I've never experienced in the same way through all my other teaching experiences.”

We’ve won awards for our course design

This year, our Creativity, Problem Solving and Design Thinking course won Gold at the Learning Technologies Awards for Best use of social and collaborative learning technologies.

Designed by Professor Nathan Crilly at University of Cambridge, and Cambridge Advance Online Learning Designer Emily Patterson, the judges praised the course for demonstrating “strong academic rigour and thoughtful design, showing a clear commitment to peer learning and creative problem-solving”.

This is the fourth award we’ve won since Cambridge Advance Online began, including another Gold win at the Learning Technologies Awards in 2024 for our Compelling Communication Skills course.

We’ve delivered innovative learning experiences for organisations

As well as our online courses, we offer blended, tailored and bespoke learning experiences for organisations. We’ve been shortlisted for a Learning Excellence Awards 2026 for a blended Generative AI programme we designed for a Big Four consultancy firm.

The client described the programme as ‘unlike anything we’ve seen on the market’, and the learners have reported significant improvement in their knowledge, along with immediate opportunities to apply this knowledge in their roles.

We’ve supported mission-driven education initiatives

We partnered with, Localized a career intelligence platform, earlier this year to train 110 female university graduates in Nairobi, Johannesburg and Cairo to become Carbon and ESG Analysts, funded by a grant from the Mastercard Foundation.

Together we designed an eight-week, hands-on Carbon and ESG Analyst course, building on the insights from Localized’s expert industry advisors, including top Chief Sustainability Officers, carbon accounting experts from Fortune500 companies and University of Cambridge experts.

The course was taught by leading University of Cambridge academics, and 58% of the graduating cohort were placed in green jobs or received international academic scholarship offers less than eight months after completing it.

The course was shortlisted for the 2025 ALT Award for Technology and Adult Learning. It’s currently shortlisted for the 2026 Learning Excellence Awards and the 2026 Bett Awards Further and Higher Education category.

We’re hugely proud of the impact we’ve made in 2025 and are looking forward to helping even more professionals and organisations drive meaningful change in 2026. You can see our full list of courses on our website.