Doing a short course to boost your existing career

UAL short courses are taught by industry experts with a wealth of knowledge in their chosen field.

We caught up with some students who completed a short course while working full-time hoping to better understand their field and advance their career prospects.

Here, they share their reasons for doing a short course, and discuss how the course has helped them progress professionally.

How a short course can boost your career

If you're looking to progress your career, a short course is a great place to start. Our short courses provide an opportunity to grow your professional portfolio, learn new skills and achieve your career goals.

Courses cover a range of disciplines to benefit your professional development and career progress.

Short course students now earn a digital badge on successful completion of a short course. Digital badges make a great addition to digital portfolios and can be added to social media profiles like LinkedIn to document learning and celebrate achievements. Learn more about digital badges.

“I was considering UAL for my further masters degree, so I decided to explore some of the short courses now that I had the chance to.”

One of the biggest takeaways from her time on the course was just how useful the tutor’s feedback was when it came to completing assignments. The course also helped her unearth skills she had forgotten about.

“The course helped me in many of my personal projects and it absolutely helped me in my professional work. It inspired me to try illustration as something separate and unique and I am trying to freelance and practice in this sphere,” Maria says.

Maria adds that her advice for students thinking of doing a short course is to explore what’s on offer as the variety of courses and topics covered is so vast. "Short courses are really worth looking into," she says, "especially if you're interested in self-development."

Despite her packed schedule, Hannah decided to do both the Digital Textile Design Online Short Course and Fashion Textile Design Online Short Course because she felt the two course complemented one another perfectly given her diverse practice.

“The courses were fantastic together! I decided to take these courses to work on my portfolio and expand my designs for more commercial pursuits,” Hannah says.

Hannah tells me that the most enjoyable aspect of doing the courses was discussing ideas with like-minded creatives who shared her passion for design. Having the freedom to veer off track and experiment with other styles and approaches was an added bonus.

“The fact that others see my work as unique was great. It was wonderful to get such positive feedback and really encouraged me to take the leap forward with my business.”

Since doing the course, Hannah has incorporated what she learnt on the courses to further her professional practice. "After the course, I was able to streamline my portfolio and collections," she says, "I've since developed my website and branding to reflect this!"

Hannah's advice for others contemplating doing a short course is simple: “Don’t think twice, just do it! Whatever your reason, it’s a valid one and you won’t regret it. The tutors are fabulous and you’ll be able to use those new skills in more ways than one!”

East-London based Copywriter Phoebe Chetwynd-Talbot is currently working at advertising agency Leo Burnett, but has aspirations to produce and become a show runner for her own TV show. Her days at work are spent writing TV and radio scripts as well as working with clients helping come up with creative solutions to their problems.

With so much reading and writing a part of her job, Phoebe decided to do the Screenwriting for Beginners Online Short Course to improve her writing. While she described the course as being both compelling and challenging, she really appreciated the informative discussions she was able to have with her tutor and peers on the course that only enriched her experience.

“My favourite aspect of the course was learning that all I really need in order to be a better writer is to keep writing, that my dedication to trial and error is the thing that will make my work richer. And to not take it all too seriously!”

Circling back to how the course has helped in her job as a copywriter, Phoebe says: “As a copywriter I’m constantly writing- scripts, headlines, end lines, emails. The short course allowed me to really learn to craft that skill, and channel it into a new form that I’ve found incredibly useful for my job. I have a script going into production right now, and using the skills I learned on this course- made writing it a more fluid experience.”

After working in the beauty and fashion industry since she was 16 years old and then as a trained make-up artist at 18 years old and now an assistant manager for a beauty retail store, Sophia Bridger-Finch felt like it was time to shift her focus more towards the business side of things.

“As I was getting older and had jobs within beauty retail, I wanted to expand my business side of my brain! I’ve always wanted to expand my knowledge and eventually transfer more into a head office role within the buying and merchandising team."

Sophia took the Buying and Merchandising for Beauty Retail (Online Short Course) and says she was inspired to see so many people study the course alongside her from all over the world. “It made me realise how many people still love learning something new, no matter where you are in your career or geographically,” she says.

But how has the course helped Sophia with her plans on progressing in her career? “The course has made me more confident at applying the knowledge and skills I learnt on the course while at work. It’s also made me more confident generally that I’ve applied for opportunities within my company and I have been given an educational shadowing of the heads of merchandising and buying when everyone is back in the head office!”

MA graduate Josheen Garcha is currently pursuing her interests in branding, graphic design and web design. As such, she’s working freelance as a Digital Marketer and Web Designer for an array of clients. She tells me she enjoys the process of helping new brands find their feet, while also assisting older, more established brands refine their existing brand identity.

With her work so diverse due to the nature of freelance, Josheen felt it necessary to refine her skills and chose to do the Digital Graphic Design Online Short Course. “I found that I had very little exposure to Adobe Creative Software and this is an integral platform to assist in my line of work. I chose a short course with UAL due to their reputation within the creative industry, as I wanted a course that gave me technical advice as well as a creative point of view.”

During her time on the course, Josheen says she enjoyed interacting with other students, and having lively discussions with the tutor about all things graphic design. She adds that being able to see everyone’s work was a great source of inspiration.

”I discovered that the creative process is much more challenging than I initially expected! I learned how to channel this in the right way by using multiple hand-drawn mock-ups and templates that greatly aided in the design process and overall piece.”

With her new-found skills, Josheen says she plans to apply them to her freelance work and feels doing the course has refined a lot of her approaches to creative work.

“The short course has benefited my career in digital marketing and web design massively. I am now much more comfortable using Adobe software to create my work at a much higher level. I am also in the process of designing and creating a logo for a new business, which will be much easier after the advice and guidance given by the course.”