The British Council is seeking a supplier to devise, deliver and facilitate a new Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) entitled Study UK: Preparing for Work.

The two or three-week online course will equip prospective and current international students, as well as recent graduates, with the skills and understanding they need to navigate and enter employment in the UK, within their home country or in a third country.

It will support them to identify their skills and how to communicate these effectively to potential employers, as well as building an understanding of organisational and workplace culture. 

We are producing this course as part of our commitment to supporting in students in their progression to the world of work.

Key details

This course will be delivered online and will be facilitated by the supplier.

It will run for two or three weeks – once in October 2024 and once agin in March 2025. Learners will be expected to spend about three to four hours per week on course content.

Video should be central to the content and a tutor/tutors will appear repeatedly throughout the course.

What topics should be covered?

Proposals should suggest specific module titles and associated descriptions for each.

Some areas that could be covered in the course content (in no particular order) are:

• skills for work audit
• career expectations and what job is right for you
• work experience and volunteering
• job search strategies
• career support at your university
• networking
• job application process
• preparing a CV
• writing a cover letter
• succeeding at job interviews
• starting a new job successfully
• working across cultures
• the future of work.

Expected outcomes

By the end of the course, learners should:

• be able to identify their strengths, and use those to help them reflect on and plan their future career path
• be able to demonstrate a range of professional skills, both soft and hard, that can help to succeed in any workplace
• develop an effective strategy for getting a job that suits them
• understand the importance of networking, collaboration, and effective communication
• understand how to work with people from different cultural backgrounds and in different cultural contexts.

About the Study UK campaign

The Study UK campaign launched in November 2016 and is delivered by the British Council in partnership with UK government’s GREAT Britain campaign, which encourages people to visit, invest, and study in the UK.

Study UK shares the best of British education with an international audience to attract the brightest and best students to come and study here. It is the only national-level campaign that promotes the UK as a first-choice study destination all over the world.

As part of our digital advertising campaign, we raise awareness of the UK’s strengths in relation to our three key pillars – great student experience; employability and career opportunities; and academic excellence and quality of teaching. We want our content to deliver these key messages to our prospective international students and influencers to encourage them to choose to study in the UK.