Oxford online courses in public policy and government
Study from anywhere, anytime, and help create a world better served, better led and better governed.
Eight-week short courses developed and delivered by the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University, and Pearson.
Our government and public policy short courses
As one of the University of Oxford’s newest and most vibrant departments, the Blavatnik School of Government’s mission is to inspire and support better government and public policy around the world.
Delivered in partnership with Pearson, our online short courses aim to give you the government and public policy qualifications you need to join an elite group of change-makers who are having an impact in their sector.
Cyber Security for Public Leadership: Planning, Policy and Strategy
Build the cyber security knowledge you need to confidently and safely lead your organisation.
Values and Public Policy: Political Philosophy in Practice
Gain the skills to understand the key moral and ethical value concepts that should inform public policy.
Evidence in Public Policy
On this policy development course, learn to hone the critical skills needed to design and implement policies informed by facts.
Economics for Public Policy
Develop the skills you need to apply an economic context to policymaking and become a critical consumer of economic analysis.
Are these online short courses right for me?
Our government and public policy short courses are for you if you’re a professional looking to enhance your knowledge of policymaking or public leadership – whether you work directly or indirectly with policy.
Early-to-mid-career civil servant
Experienced NGO professional
Experienced professional in a public sector or related private organisation
Public service representative or candidate
“Policy that is not evidence based should not happen, especially when it comes to the long term international (and often high value) overseas projects my organisation implements on behalf of governments. We need to know what works and it needs to be context specific in a lot of cases.”
Course graduate, 2020
“The final project provided a great opportunity to apply the theory taught during the course. In particular, it allowed me to test my understanding of some of the methods and concepts that I was less familiar with in a context/policy setting I was not used to working within.”
Evidence in Public Policy course graduate, 2020
“I loved how the course illustrated that using intuition in policies isn’t pragmatic and showed us the road to becoming a critical evidence consumer to create robust policies.”
Eslam Elshorbagy, Evidence in Public Policy course graduate
“Doing an impact evaluation was the most useful and exciting part of the course – it served as the compendium of all the things that we had learned. The weekly interactions and forums between the cohort, who are all specialists or experts in their areas of works, provided deeper value and understanding of the public policy sphere and decision-making in different contexts and situations.”
Kenny Ralph S. Fernando, Evidence in Public Policy course graduate
“The discussions with other participants were very useful.”
Faith, Evidence in Public Policy course graduate
“This Evidence in Public Policy course has been a truly invaluable learning experience for me. The academics introduced us to policy analysis, governance and related research, and I discovered how policymakers design, implement, analyse and evaluate policy. I learned so much from the input and guidance I received during every lesson.”
Pongpit Pinsai, Evidence in Public Policy course graduate
Courses designed for you, by us
Pearson and the University of Oxford’s partnership is founded on a mutual goal to provide excellent, yet accessible, learning opportunities to busy professionals around the globe.
Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government is a global school committed to improving the quality of government and public policymaking worldwide. The School combines the academic rigour of the top-ranked university in the world (The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, 2022) with an applied, real-world approach to government and public policy studies.
As the world’s leading learning company, Pearson works with higher education institutions around the world to deliver degree programmes, certificates, non-credit-bearing credentials. Our commitment to providing quality online higher education helps preserve Oxford University’s academic integrity while generating positive outcomes for our learners.
Advantages of studying online with Oxford University
These Oxford online short courses are perfect if you’re a professional who needs to fit your studies into a busy schedule, without compromising on academic quality.
Study from anywhere
Taught 100% online, you can benefit from the Blavatnik School of Government’s expert teaching and gain government and public policy qualifications from anywhere in the world.
Learn from the best
You will be taught by the world’s top academics and study alongside peers who are passionate about making an impact on policy around the world.
24-hour access to learning material
The online learning platform is easy to use, easy to navigate and accessible via your computer, tablet or mobile phone, 24 hours a day.
Government and public policy blogs
A guide to evidence based policymaking
Policymakers often have a hard time knowing in advance what will work and what won’t, which is why building evidence [...]
How our academics pivoted their public policy research to fight COVID-19
COVID-19 has been one of the biggest challenges governments across the world have faced in recent history – socially, economically [...]
Meet the public policy experts behind our online courses
Our short and online government and public policy courses offer you the chance to hone your skills in areas such [...]