What to expect from the academic programme?
All students will choose between five dynamic courses:
Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning and Deep Learning
This course will cover two crucial methods to contemporary use of artificial intelligence. Machine learning is a field of scientific study concerned with algorithmic techniques that enable machines to learn performance on a given task via the discovery of patterns or regularities in exemplary data. Consequently, its methods commonly draw upon a statistical basis in conjunction with the computational capabilities of modern computing hardware. This first week aims to acquaint the student with the main branches of machine learning and provide a thorough introduction to the most widely used approaches and methods in this field.
The second week will focus on Deep Learning. Neural networks and deep learning approaches have revolutionized the fields of data science and artificial intelligence in recent years, and applications built on these techniques have reached or
surpassed human performance in many specialized applications. After a short review of the origins of neural networks and deep learning, this course will cover the most common neural network architectures and discuss in detail how neural networks are trained using dedicated data samples, avoiding common pitfalls such as overtraining. The course includes a detailed overview of alternative methods to train neural networks and further network architectures which are relevant in a wide range of specialized application scenarios.
Business Management / Strategic Management and Leadership
This two week course will cover the two essential features of modern business management, using actual case studies throughout to make the most practical course possible.
Various methods of strategic market analysis are presented in the first week so as to allow students to evaluate risks and opportunities in global markets, highlighting intercultural aspects, by looking at organizations operating in different countries. Students learn to analyse and understand strengths and weaknesses of organizations from various disciplines (products, services, NGOs etc.) that face specific market situations. Supported by new developments in the field of market research, the process for identifying and analysing core competencies and competitive advantages in national and international environments is discussed at length. Students are supported to plan strategic alternatives and to implement and control these by taking on fictitious roles within various different organizations. Exercises and international case
studies help students to identify with the role of management and participate in the strategic planning process as well as in operational management. This helps students understand the problems companies regularly face and comprehend how methods of modern management can be used in order to solve these.
With this background, the students can turn to business leadership. In today’s knowledge-based society, employees are a firm’s most valuable resource. A key responsibility of leadership is to develop the knowledge, expertise, and skills of employees. Good leadership is crucial for the continued success of a firm in the face of increasingly competitive markets. This course presents the necessary competencies of the leader in a modern, knowledge- based organization. Central questions raised by modern leadership theory are presented and discussed. In doing so, the course focuses on requirements and instruments of professional leadership, aspects of situational leadership, and leadership communication and interactions, both in the context of strategic management and change processes. The methodological and conceptual foundations of leadership are presented to students, along with empirical examples and best-practice principles, with the intent for students to master the challenges of enhancing the firm’s most valuable asset—its employees—via professional and contemporary leadership practices.
Financial Technology / Computational Finance; and Coding and Portfolio Construction
There will be one week of computational or quantitive finance, and one week on Coding and Portfolio Construction.
Quantitative finance is a field that applies mathematical models, statistical techniques, and computational methods to analyse financial markets, manage risk, and optimize investment strategies. It involves using data-driven approaches to make decisions about pricing assets, managing portfolios, and assessing financial risks. In this first week, students will be introduced to equity products and derivatives before moving on to volatility, Bollinger bands and then Risk, hedging and CAPM.
The second week will build on the first, and it will open by introducing Python and Pandas, before moving on to portfolio construction and then finishing with correlation, diversification and machine learning. This latter part highlights AI and the future of finance.
Economics / Aspects of International Management; and Managerial Economics
The first week will be on aspects of international management, while the second will be on managerial economics.
The first week is designed to cover the economic, organizational, and cultural underpinnings that students need to grasp in order to better understand the managerial challenges that global organizations of all types and sizes have to cope with. Participants will gain the detailed knowledge and practical experiences they require to understand how organizations can achieve a competitive advantage in a globalized world. This course will enable students to describe and contrast a set of sustainable corporate and functional strategies in the context of globalization. They will have a detailed understanding of the extent to which globalization and internationalization strategies affect the organizational structures and value creation of global firms.
The second week will take an in-depth look into the economic framework underlying markets and economies and the economic rationale underlying strategic decisions. In order to enable students to analyze the economic environment and draw conclusions from a managerial perspective, the first part of the course is devoted to the description and analysis of market forces. Following this, strategic decision making makes up the second half of the course. In particular, these latter units deal with the role of different market structures and asymmetric information as well as the fundamentals of game theory, which supports students to understand with the underlying decision making processes at work in modern economics.
Marketing / Operational Marketing and Online Marketing
The objective of the first week of this course is to provide students with the basic concepts and terminology of operational Marketing. They will gain insight into the different approaches to company marketing, and will become familiar with the management of products and brands, as well as with the concept of positioning in the market.
The course will teach students the basic tools of marketing by means of the four elements of the marketing mix: the product, communication, price, and distribution policy. The interrelationships and the interaction of the individual elements will be illustrated by real-life examples. The students will learn that the success of a product depends on a consistent and consequent implementation of the individual elements in operational marketing.
The second week will utilise interdisciplinary principles to enable students to engage on the operational and strategic engagement with the topic of online marketing. These include the principles of business and economics, as well as communicative multimedia fundamentals, or the consideration of the fundamental tonality of online marketing channels.
This holistic view is essential for strategic planning. In addition to consideration of the positioning of companies on the World Wide Web, the course also looks at how to optimise online marketing presence. The measurement and evaluation of relevant key figures round off the uniform basis for this higher-level module.
This Online Marketing course teaches basic technical terms and concepts. These include the online communication process, the added value of online marketing, electronic value creation and business models. Building on this fundamental understanding, this course addresses questions of product suitability, pricing policy, distribution policy, and the various forms of marketing and distribution on the Internet.
This course will then extend a student’s understanding of online marketing with elements of strategic and, above all, operational marketing, in particular the planning and realisation of advertising campaigns through different sales channels. In addition, the increasing development towards mobile communication is taken into account, and attention is paid to mobile marketing as part of the online marketing mix.
For an understanding of the behaviour of online customers, the course deals with advanced, online marketing-specific advertising effectiveness approaches. Based on the principles of customer acquisition, retention, and customer loyalty in online marketing, strategies and tactics for increasing customer numbers and campaigns via the Internet, together with the importance of online relationships are discussed.
Students work their way through legal aspects and learn the principles of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) relevant to online marketing in order to advertise and contact customers on a legally correct basis. This course offers students the opportunity to learn about and implement various aspects of online marketing management in practice. They learn how to assess online media planning through web analytics and targeted monitoring. For this purpose, they will learn about the relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) of online marketing, which are an essential prerequisite for optimizing online strategies.
Who is teaching my course?
All tutors who are teaching on Oxford Certificate Programmes offered by Worcester College (University of Oxford) are taught by tutors from Oxford or Cambridge.
What do I receive for completing the course?
Upon satisfactory completion of the programme, participants receive a Certificate of Attendance and Achievement issued by Worcester College.
What is the teaching environment and where will I stay?
➤ Small study groups of 15–35 students
➤ Single room or Twin room with standard facilities in student accommodation at Worcester College
➤ Breakfast in the historic college dining hall
➤ Welcome Reception and Farewell Dinner
What is Worcester College (University of Oxford)?
Worcester College is one of the historic colleges of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1714, but there has been an institution of learning on the site since the late 13th century. Although it is very close to the centre of Oxford, Worcester is the only college to have its sports grounds onsite. The college buildings are set in beautifully landscaped gardens.
Application deadline: 15th May 2026
Programme Fee: £4,330 GBP for single room lodging, also including the core academic modules, enrichment programme and breakfast.
If you would like to do multiple courses, please email enquiries.cpc@worc.ox.ac.uk for bespoke pricing.