Cranfield University

Cranfield University, a world leader in management education and research, set out to create a new range of flexible and stackable programmes with the aim of making business education more accessible for learners – regardless of their location.

This unique UK university offers postgraduate-only programmes, focused on themes that include aerospace, energy, environment, and management. Within the School of Management, popular programmes include its MBA, Master’s in Management, and a suite of specialist master’s in topical subjects such as sustainability. The University also tailors courses to meet the needs of the apprenticeship market as well as leadership programmes for corporate clients.

Despite the wide range of courses currently on offer, the University felt that it needed to look to the future and develop new ways to provide lifelong learning opportunities to a wider audience, offering the same quality teaching that in-person students receive at Cranfield University.

These new learning programmes need to suit a wide range of learning styles. In creating this innovative new programme, Cranfield had to ensure that it had the right virtual learning platform to connect with its internal systems and provide a high-quality experience for learners.

Cranfield University has an entrepreneurial spirit at its heart, and knowing the virtual educational needs of the market, has developed an online offering that still boasts the same high-quality teaching from Cranfield subject matter experts – flexible, lifelong learning has never been more accessible.

Paving the way for learners to engage in education at the time and to the level they choose, Cranfield University added entirely online ‘stackable’ programmes into their portfolio of courses. By coupling flexibility with extremely high-quality content and teaching from subject matter experts and utilising the Canvas virtual learning environment, learners are able to meet their learning objectives at a pace and time that suits them. Canvas provides agility and autonomy for Cranfield students, putting learners in charge of their course progression.

The more modules learners take, the more they can stack learning, either to fill an immediate skills gap or to gain accredited qualifications that range from a Postgraduate Award to a Master’s. Importantly, Cranfield wanted to make its new courses accessible to any student or corporate client by removing entry requirements apart from classroom-level English.

In January 2023, Cranfield University launched its first globally available online stackable programmes using Canvas, introducing an innovative approach to traditional learning. The course features self-paced, blended learning modules to keep learners engaged and focussed, and the ability to tailor each module to suit their needs at every step of the way. No matter how much time a learner has, or their location, they can quickly sign up for the Cranfield programmes and receive access to their course content within two hours.

Since its launch, Cranfield University has already gathered excellent feedback on the new programmes. Learners are happy with the quality of course content, the flexibility and the ease of working through each module, and University faculty are excited about the new approach to learning that is engaging a diverse range of students, that may not have had access to subject matter expert-led content before.

The Canvas platform has been critical in the launch of the stackable programmes, providing the University with the high-quality technology it needs to host content. With all the essential teaching tools in one place, and a simple, intuitive interface, the learning platform has amplified the University’s content and made it appropriate and user-friendly for an online audience.