16 Free Online Courses In South Africa With Certificates 2022 (2023)

Below are some free online courses in South Africa for students both in SA and any part of the world. These courses are totally free to audit and in the end, successful participants have the option to obtain a verified certificate either for free or at a very nominal fee.

Online learning has indeed spread further from its foundations, with African countries now adopting the practice which shows just how effective the method of imparting has been and how beneficial it is. The practice is one of the highest and best innovations the education sector has designed thus far.

ATTENTION: While you are here, it may interest you to learn about these online colleges that pay students to attend.

Integrating media technologies with education is what produced this online learning practice that everyone is enjoying today.

Online learning has made a lot of people achieve academic success, and take their careers to the next level by offering new skills and knowledge thus opening more doors of opportunities.

You know, the more skills you gain the more opportunities will be open for you. If you are working in a certain department and gain a new skill online in another, it makes you handier in your organization and you may be looking at a promotion or an increase in salary, whichever that happens means you get to make more money.

Online learning has made education much more accessible, you don’t have to literally go to a university or college to get educated and certified and spend lots of money. It can all be done online, that is except for the part where you spend a lot of money for it, as there are free online courses that you can get into and gather the skills you want.

Aside from online learning being relatively cheap or even free as the case may be, it is faster to complete yet you still study at your own pace in most cases.
Online learning is quite flexible and there are a variety of courses you can choose from.

These and more are the basic advantages associated with online learning, the overall experience is equally amazing.

Now, in the case of free online study, don’t doubt it, it is very much possible and through this article, you will get to learn about the free online courses in South Africa and not just learn about them but be able to participate in them as well.

The free online courses in South Africa also come with an attached certificate that you can get for a small fee when you complete the course, this certificate can then be attached to your existing CV or Resume to prove that you took part in the course.

Getting certified increases your chances of getting employed or being promoted and you also get to earn a higher reputation from your colleagues, family, and employers. It also puts you ahead of the workforce competition as HRs anywhere in the world will recognize your passion for hard work and grant you employment before others with the same profile as you.

These free online courses in South Africa, just like every other online course, do not require more than a stable internet connection, a PC or maybe a smartphone, and a few rands to pay for your certificate.
Also, these free online courses though originating from South Africa accept participants from all over the world and not just South Africans alone.

Are South African Online Courses Relevant?

These South African free online courses are relevant, in that they offer you new skills and knowledge or brush up on existing ones giving you the chance to pursue your academic dreams in a less stressful yet absolutely convenient way.

What can I study online in South Africa?

You can basically study anything online in South Africa whether you are within the country or outside its borders. The decision of what to study online solely depends on you and what you want to do at the moment.

If you generally don’t know which course to go for, stay tuned on this article as there are lots of free online courses in South Africa that you can join from here. The courses are listed below along with their details to help facilitate your preference and their application links.

After much research, I was able to come up with 16 free online courses in South Africa along with their details and how they can help you in your career and academic pursuit. Without further ado, I will list these courses.

#1 Understanding Clinical Research: Behind the Statistics

This is the top healthcare-related free online courses in South Africa provided via Coursera by the University of Cape Town in SA and taught online by Dr. Juan H Klopper.

This course is for clinical practitioners, medical students, and people dealing with general research studies. It teaches how to easily interpret common statistical concepts without involving complex mathematical formulae and understand statistical analysis.

People whose disciplines fall under research should take this course, especially in the medical sector it will make your research skills top-notch. You get to understand statistical concepts better and faster. Also, after completing the course you can obtain a verified certificate for a little fee.

The course is self-paced on your own time with a duration of 6 weeks and takes approximately 28 hours to complete.

#2 What is a Mind?

Don’t get it twisted but that isn’t a question but a free online from South Africa. The course is provided on the FutureLearn (a popular online learning platform) by the University of Cape Town in SA and taught by Professor Mark Solms, the chair of Neuropsychology from the same university.

The mind is a great asset of the human body and an interesting thing to learn about, fortunately, this course explores the most pertinent scientific and philosophical concepts for understanding our own minds.

Learners in this field of study can take this course as well as any other interested persons who are interested in learning about the workings of the human mind.

The course covers interesting topics like consciousness, subjectivity, agency, changing the mind, understanding the mind, intentionality, and the unconscious. After completion, you could earn a certificate at a small fee of $49.

The course duration is 6 weeks with a weekly study of 3 hours, it is self-paced at your own time and convenience.

#3 Extinctions: Past and Present

This is a free online biology course offered by the University of Cape Town via FutureLearn which teaches about all of the extinctions that have happened in the past and how these extinctions have shaped the world as it is today.

Do you know that life on earth has gone through five mass extinction events and that the earth is presently suffering from one? In fact, expecting the sixth extinction, explore all the answers to these and more by joining this free online course in South Africa.

The course is five weeks long where each week is dedicated to teaching about each of the past five extinctions but you will only have to put in a work effort of 3 hours per week and you get a certificate of completion at the end.

#4 Theory of Change for Development

This is one of the best free online courses in South Africa, it is provided by the University of Witwatersrand via the edX online learning platform and teaches how to handle and effectively solve problems using the Theory of Change (ToC) approach.

Don’t freak out, you will learn what the Theory of Change is and also learn the necessary tools and techniques to understand the existing theories of change and be able to develop your own. You will also learn the associated principles and lots more.

The skill and knowledge you gain from this free online course can come in handy in an organization, you will be highly noted for your critical thinking skills and problem-solving techniques. The course is 7 weeks long with an effort of 3-4 hours per week and comes with a certificate at the end of your program.

#5 What do Architects and Urban Planners do?

People who aren’t in this field often wonder what architects and urban planners do specifically, this is a good opportunity to fill up your curiosity with verified facts and what spatial design professionals do and know the challenges and opportunities they do encounter.

This free online course in South Africa is offered by the University of Witwatersrand via the edX online learning platform, and a certificate of completion is available. It takes 3 weeks to complete the course with a work effort of 2-3 hours per week.

#6 Research Methods: An Engineering Approach

This free online course in South Africa is aimed at graduate students at the masters and doctoral levels of study working on an engineering project to help facilitate their engineering research work using various research methods and approaches.

You will learn the tools required for creative research, design of the research process, and lots more that will equip you with the knowledge and skill needed, to plan and develop your own research process.

The self-paced course comes with an attached certificate and takes 8 weeks to complete with an effort of 2-3 hours weekly.

#7 Introduction to Stewart’s Model of Physiology Acid-Base Chemistry

Are you an ICU nurse, physician, or in acute care? Then this course is for you.

The free online course introduces students to Peter Stewart’s model of clinical acid-base chemistry which forms an integral part of the education of medical professionals and it is effective for the management of patients in acute care settings.

This free online course in South Africa is a medical-related course offered by the University of Witwatersrand via the edX online learning platform teaching essential concepts in solution and acid-base chemistry.

The course is self-paced on your own time and is completed in 5 weeks with an effort of 3-4 hours per week, there is also an attached certificate you will get with a small fee after completing the course.

#8 Systems Dynamics for Health Sciences

The prerequisites for this online course are those training in medicine or in an associated discipline teaching about the fundamental principles of system dynamics and how to use the tools to explore and solve problems relevant to the health field.

You will learn and gain special skills needed in the medical field including the ability of applying system dynamics methodology to a wide range of medical problems and how to use system dynamics software to rapidly develop models and run simulations of problems.

This free online course in South Africa is weeks long, self-paced on your own time with an effort of 2-4 hours weekly, and is attached with a verified certificate of $139.

#9 Activism and Citizen Journalism through Media

The media is a very powerful tool that has shown its importance and major advantages in recent times.

If you are an activist involved in promoting or advocating for a social cause, participating in this course will teach you how to apply ethical and safe media practices, and be able to identify an appropriate strategy and platform to reach a defined target audience.

The course is online and free and also comes with a certificate of completion. It takes a duration of about four weeks to complete with an effort of 2-3 hours per week.

#10 Academic Writing for Clarity and Meaning

This course is relevant to researchers, people in the writing space, and everyone in general as it builds your writing and critical thinking skills which will help your research project and improve your academic writing in personal.

This is one of the most popular free online courses in South Africa and it is provided by the University of Witwatersrand via the edX online learning platform and takes 2 weeks to complete with 2-3 hours of effort per week, it also comes with a certificate of completion which you can attach to your CV or Resume.

#11 Postgraduate Academic Literacy for Management and Business Students

Before you take this course it is recommended that you have completed an undergraduate degree as this online course is for graduate students and can assist you to engage with academic sources to kick start your own academic research.

You will be able to identify academic and personal resources that support postgraduate research, and learn to critique an academic article professionally plus a number of other benefits. This free online course from a South African academic institute comes with a paid certificate that you can attach to your CV or Resume to show proof of course completion.

#12 Digital Transformation and the IT Team

The world is currently deep into digital infrastructures and it is due to the positive impact it has created in various organizations and sectors.

The digital field is a current and rapidly unfolding process, no one knows what will happen the very next season, but, by using special models, the process can be understood, predicted, and engaged with.

Through this popular free online digital course in South Africa, you can join in the online class and learn about the models and techniques used in the prediction of digital transformation and you will also learn about the impact of digital transformation on the role of IT and CIO teams.

A skill of this kind would establish your career further especially in the IT and digital technology fields. As a matter of fact, almost, if not all the organization, industries, and businesses running today utilizes the benefits of IT in one way or the other. This makes it possible for IT personnel to be able to secure a good-paying job just anywhere.

This sort of online course is expected to contribute to making you a wanted and important employee in any organization.

The course is self-paced on your own time and takes 5 weeks to complete with an effort of 2-3 hours per week, it also comes with an attached certificate of completion that you can acquire for a little fee.

#13 Result-based Project Management: Monitoring and Evaluation

Decision-making in every organization often determines its success or failure and what makes one a good manager is the ability to make the right decisions most of the time and this is a skill that is sought after by top organizations.

This South African free online course will show you the proper tools used in designing effective decision-making, using results-based approaches to design, implement and manage an ever-growing range of programs in an organization.

You will learn how to use performance indicators to measure progress, become familiar with the Result Chain theory, and many more to facilitate your decision-making skills. This online course is 8 weeks long with an effort of 3-4 hours per week and comes with a certificate of completion that you can acquire for a little fee.

#14 Becoming a Change-maker: Introduction to Social Innovation

This is one of the top free online courses in South Africa offered by the University of Cape Town via Coursera.

The course completion takes about 6 weeks with an effort of 3-5 hours per week and it deals with creating positive social impacts on ones’ immediate community from whence the effect of the positive impact could extend to even the world as a whole.

You will firstly get to explore the problems affecting social innovation and how to tackle and deal with these problems, thereby making you a critical thinker at the same time and very handy in any organization.

After completion you will get a certificate, which you will pay a little fee to acquire, to show as proof of your knowledge and skill, you can attach the certificate to your CV or Resume.

#15 Julia Scientific Programming

Julia is a high-level, high-performance dynamic programming language developed specifically for scientific computing, useful for only science-related disciplines such as physics, chemistry, engineering, data science, etc.

Asides from being very useful for scientific purposes, the programming language, Julia, is also effective for general purposes.

This free online course will teach you about the programming language and how to use it effectively, even for personal purposes.

The course is 4 weeks long with an effort of 4-5 hours per week, self-paced on your time and comes with a paid certificate.

#16 Medicine and the Arts: Humanizing Healthcare

This branch of study is an emerging one, it is basically known as “medical humanities” and it is the intersection of the arts, humanities, and healthcare.

By taking part in this free online course in South Africa, you will have the opportunity to explore this new field and learn about the challenges and problems it solves in the healthcare sector.

This course is offered by the University of Cape Town on the FutureLearn online learning platform and it takes 6 weeks to complete with a work-study of 3 hours weekly, and after completing the course, you will have the opportunity to choose to obtain a paid certificate.

Conclusion on Free Online Courses in South Africa

These are the free online courses in South Africa with certificates that will help to establish your career and feed you with new, valid knowledge. Like I said earlier, these courses are totally free to audit, that is to say, you can take part in these courses all for free but to obtain a certificate upon successful completion, you may be required to pay a nominal fee for certificate processing.

Whether it is in starting a new career, brushing up on old skills, or picking up new ones, these free online South African courses would be certainly of help to assist you to achieve whatever you want.

Do note that your determination and hard work are what will make you succeed while studying. Try to avoid distractions and choose a learning environment conducive enough for you. The online learning platforms through which these courses are being offered are among the most recognized platforms and it is good that the universities offering the online courses partner with them to offer you a quality online learning experience.

Also, as a certificate holder in any of this course, you get to be recognized for your skill by any HR in any organization. If you already have a degree, this will make your CV or resume look more attractive. This is a huge gain for you and an opportunity you shouldn’t let go of, get skilled today.

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