Adult Learners – Part-time Study

Part-time Courses

We offer a variety of part-time courses that are tailor-made to suit your desire to learn something new, whether it be for a hobby or your own leisure to gain new skills, or to add to your skillset in order to build a new career or enhance your credentials for higher education.

Which course is for me?

Part-time courses offered by Colchester Institute and our commercial arm, CI Business Solutions, include the following:

Qualifications for career progression
  • One or two year duration NVQ, VRQ, and BTEC Diplomas, which are work related vocational qualifications containing a mixture of theory and practicals. View Courses
  • Accredited professional training qualifications for sectors including accounting, construction, engineering and service industries. These are suitable for those already working or who wish to work in their chosen field. These can vary in duration from one day to one year and beyond. View Courses
  • Access to Higher Education Diplomas for those looking to go on to University. Completely online options with no classroom study are now available. View Courses
  • Higher National Certificates (HNCs) and Higher National Diplomas (HNDs), which are are work-related, or vocational, higher education qualifications. They are specialist technical courses that will help you gain the skills, knowledge and behaviours you need for employment within your chosen field, progress within a current career in order to gain professional status or recognition, or to prepare you for further study. View Courses

If you are not looking for anything specific or are just curious about what we can offer you, you can browse the relevant course finders to find a specific course that you are looking for.

Our part-time courses are available to apply using the relevant online application and enquiry forms located on the individual course page. Most classroom-based courses will start in September or October, however they can start at other points during the year, whilst most online training is flexible and can be started throughout the year. The start date where applicable, can be found on each individual course listing. If you are unsure about a start date or attendance days please contact us via the ‘Ask a Question‘ button located on the individual course page.

Applicants will receive an acknowledgement email within one week of the application being received by Customer Information and Admissions, if you do not receive this you should contact the team on (01206) 712000 to check that your application has been received. Please be aware that courses will only be run if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Leisure and hobby courses
Colchester Institute offers a number of non-accredited short (less than 12 weeks in duration) leisure and hobby courses such as arts, crafts and foreign languages. Purchasable via our Online Store these do not require an application form to be submitted, and this is made clear on the course page itself.

We are currently working hard to set any outstanding dates for our short courses. If you would like to receive a notification when these courses are ready to take bookings, please use the ‘Register your interest button’ on the individual course page to provide your contacts details.

As soon as a start date is confirmed and available to purchase we will email out our autumn term dates along with a link to our Online Store for payment. View Courses

Free courses for the unemployed

If you are looking to improve your English, Maths or Digital skills we offer a wide range of flexible programmes for adults. These could be free for those who are unemployed, depending on eligibility.

  • English and Maths GCSEs. View Courses
  • Flexible, online English, Maths and Digital Skills courses offered through our Adult Skills Centres (previously known as Learning Shops). View Courses
  • Construction and Engineering skills. View Courses
  • Introductory employability skills courses offered through our Adult Skills Centres in subjects including Care, Transport and Logistics, Personal and Social Development, CV Writing and Dementia Awareness. View Courses
English for Speakers of Other Languages
  • ESOL English Language courses for learners whom English is not their first language. View Courses
Higher Education

Higher Education – Which course is for me?

Located on Colchester Institute’s Colchester campus, University Centre Colchester offers a wide range of part-time foundation and honours degrees, together with HNC/Ds, higher apprenticeships and postgraduate qualifications.

 View Higher Education Programmes.

Online Learning

We offer a variety of accredited and non-accredited qualifications for adult learners to study online.

  • Access to Higher Education Diplomas for those looking to go on to University. View Courses
  • Introductory employability skills courses offered through our Adult Skills Centres in subjects including Care, Transport and Logistics, Personal and Social Development, CV Writing and Dementia Awareness. View Courses
  • Digital skills. View Courses
  • Functional Skills. View Courses