Courses & Seminars

The Stanford Center for Professional Development makes it possible for working professionals worldwide to become a part of the spirit of innovation and openness at Stanford University. Our course portfolio reflects the research and teaching of Stanford faculty from the School of Engineering as well as the schools of medicine, law, business, and humanities and sciences. Depending upon your career objectives, learning style, and company needs, you may select courses from the following categories:

Graduate Courses

Graduate courses are quarter-long Stanford University courses that are available to students seeking a graduate degree, a graduate certificate, credit for an individual course, or to audit a course. Students enrolled for credit are part of a class cohort and are required to complete homework assignments, projects, and take exams as required of all students during the 10-week quarter. As a guideline, you should expect to work a minimum of 3 hours per week for every hour of class time.

Professional Courses

Professional courses are intensive, accelerated graduate-level courses for those who want to develop skills in targeted areas. All professional courses are accessible online 24/7 and may be paced to fit your schedule. Most professional courses are 20 hours in length. Most are also taught at Stanford and arrangement can be made to offer them to a cohort at your work site. Successful completion of the requisite courses in a given area may lead to a professional certificate.

Seminars

Seminars provide an opportunity for Stanford faculty, senior researchers, and industry experts to report on their research during the autumn, winter, and spring quarters and may be viewed online at no charge. Students seeking credit for these 1-unit classes need to enroll following the normal graduate enrollment process.

Course Schedules

To find courses, you may start by browsing the quarterly course schedules below, which present both graduate and professional courses in a convenient format. Course numbers beginning with "X" indicate a professional course; all others are graduate courses.

Spring 2009-10
Winter 2009-10
Autumn 2009-10
Summer 2008-09

To refine your search, use the links below or the search box in the left column.