Free Harvard Courses to Boost Your Career
Want to put Harvard on your resume without the Ivy-level price tag?
In partnership with edX, Harvard offers online courses you can take to earn affordable certificates in everything from computer science to the U.S. Constitution. Advertising Disclosure
Free courses from Harvard are a hot topic right now.
Social media posts about the university’s free online offerings have gained millions of views amid the university’s ongoing battle with the Trump administration.
Harvard’s online course on the U.S. Constitution is perhaps the most discussed, but the university offers free online courses in everything from salary negotiation to artificial intelligence (AI).
We’ve compiled a few free online courses that can help boost your career.
Free Harvard Courses You Can Take
These courses are offered through online platforms like Harvard Business School Online and edX.
Some of the courses have an option to pay to add a certificate when you finish the curriculum, but you’ll also have the option to “audit” the course for free. Auditing a course means you’ll complete the same coursework, just without the certificate at the end.
Negotiating Salary
This relatively short online lesson — just 15 minutes — covers a key skill in today’s workforce: salary negotiation. The course covers strategies for salary negotiation by looking at the story of Derek Sanderson, a former professional hockey player.
Resilient Leadership
This short, self-paced course from Harvard Business School Online explores leadership and collaboration by looking at Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctica expedition. Leadership and teamwork are key skills for employers, who have indicated in previous Graduate Management Admission Council research that those skills will be important even amid the rise of AI.
Digital Humanities
The humanities might not immediately come to mind as a key topic in today’s tech-focused workforce, but the skills associated with them are in high demand from employers. Human skills like communication are regularly cited by employers as must-haves for new hires. This course shows how digital skills apply to the humanities to boost your critical thinking and research skills.
AI, Coding, and Data Science
Harvard offers a litany of data-focused online courses that cover everything from coding to AI. You can learn the basics of coding languages like R and Python, as well as a set of courses covering data science topics including visualization and productivity tools.
Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies
This course puts entrepreneurship skills to the test by showing how they apply to complex social problems in emerging economies. Harvard says the focus of the course is on individual agency, meaning putting an emphasis on how students can use entrepreneurship to tackle complicated issues.
Remote Work Revolution for Everyone
You’ll learn how to succeed in a remote work environment. This course touches on ways you can collaborate with your team in a remote environment, as well as how to be productive and use digital tools.
Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking
Communication and other human skills are critical to potential employers. Whether you’re communicating internally in your current job or looking to write a compelling cover letter, this public speaking and persuasive writing course can hone your skills. The course uses figures from U.S. history to show how speakers and writers appeal to their audience.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Free Online Courses From Harvard
Harvard’s free online courses are designed and taught by faculty from the university, which itself is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. Nondegree courses generally aren’t subject to the same accreditation standards as full degree programs.
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