Description
If you have a passion for the arts and are looking for an intellectual challenge, this certificate course provides you with an excellent opportunity to upgrade your qualifications. You will deepen your understanding of either philosophy or creative writing, while developing advanced research and analytical skills that will give you the edge in today’s competitive jobs market and prepare you for further academic study.
Key features of the course
- Extends knowledge and skills acquired at undergraduate level
- Enables you to focus on a particular subject of interest
- Develops critical thinking skills that are highly prized by employers
- Gives you credit towards a masters degree if you wish to study further.
Planning your studies
You must hold an honours degree to study for this qualification. Although your degree need not be in humanities, you must have the basic skills expected of a graduate in that area. All of the modules will bring you up to date with the latest ideas and approaches in humanities but does not offer remedial undergraduate training if your qualifications and/or experience are inadequate.
Before you begin the certificate you must be able to:
- write clear, concise, accurate prose
- read large quantities of text quickly, accurately and critically
- classify evidence precisely and assess its value and reliability
- argue logically, consistently and sceptically
- marshal various sorts of evidence to support a logical argument.
How long it takes
Most students study the Postgraduate Certificate in Humanities part-time, completing 60 credits over one year. Typically, this means 12–14 study hours each week.
Career relevance and employability
Studying the Postgraduate Certificate in Humanities will provide you with an opportunity to build on skills acquired at undergraduate level. It will further develop your capability to read and analyse large amounts of written material and improve on your ability to convert knowledge acquired during your studies into lucid written responses. These transferable skills are in demand in many areas of the public and private sector, such as advertising, marketing and public relations; educational, charity and development; or government and public administration.
Completing the certificate will give you a worthwhile qualification in its own right, and you can also count the credits towards one of our MAs providing you take account of the unique study rule.
Careers and Employability Services have more information on how OU study can improve your employability.
Modules
If you plan to study humanities beyond this certificate, we recommend that you read the relevant qualification descriptions from the following options before choosing your module:
MA in Creative Writing (F71) or MA in Philosophy (F30)
To gain this qualification, you'll study one of the following:
| Optional modules |
Credits |
Next start |
- MA Creative Writing part 1 (A802)
This module is an exciting opportunity to develop your skills in fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction and scriptwriting through practical writing, reading and research activities.
See full description
|
60 |
Oct 2026 |
- MA Philosophy part 1 (A853)
This module introduces you to graduate-level philosophy through studying the beauty of nature; a classic text – Plato’s Meno; the nature of consciousness; and issues around global justice.
See full description
|
60 |
Oct 2026 |
Or, subject to the rules about excluded combinations, the discontinued modules A843, A863 or A873.
Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes of this qualification are described in four areas:
- Knowledge and understanding
- Cognitive skills
- Practical and professional skills
- Key skills
Read more detailed information about the learning outcomes, and how they are acquired through teaching, learning and assessment methods.
Credit for previous study elsewhere
For this qualification, we do not allow you to count credit for study you have already done elsewhere.
On completion
On successful completion of the required modules you can be awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Humanities entitling you to use the letters PG Cert (Hum) (Open) after your name.
You can progress from this Postgraduate Certificate in Humanities to our MA in Creative Writing (F71) or MA in Philosophy (F30).
Regulations
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the qualification-specific regulations below and the academic regulations that are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
How to register
If you want to study for this qualification, read the description and check you meet any specific requirements (for example, some of
our qualifications, require you to be working in a particular environment, or be sponsored by your employer). Then select the
module you wish to study first and ensure it is suitable for you before following the registration procedure for that module.
During the registration procedure you will be asked to declare which qualification you are studying towards.
See a full list of modules available for this qualification