How long is the Certificate in Communication Skills?

The Certificate in Communication Skills runs 3 to 6 months, with online and distance routes allowing part-time pacing around work commitments.

Can the Certificate in Communication Skills be done online?

Yes — the Certificate in Communication Skills is delivered on-campus in London, online with live tutorials, or by distance learning with structured weekly deadlines.

Is the Certificate in Communication Skills UK-recognised?

The Certificate in Communication Skills is aligned with CIPR and CIM entry-level communication competencies used across UK organisations.

What are the entry requirements for the Certificate in Communication Skills?

Completed secondary schooling, minimum age 17 and IELTS 5.5 for international applicants. A writing sample strengthens the Certificate in Communication Skills application.

How much does the Certificate in Communication Skills cost?

Fees for the Certificate in Communication Skills vary by route and domicile. Instalment plans are available — contact LSCT admissions for current rates.

Certificate in Communication Skills — UK Entry-Level | LSCT | Harold International College of London

Course Overview

Strong written and spoken English carries more weight in UK professional life than most early-career staff realise. The Certificate in Communication Skills at LSCT closes that gap. The Level 3 qualification sits within Media, Journalism & Communication, runs 3 to 6 months across on-campus, online and distance routes, and is built for staff and students who need credible UK workplace communication craft fast.

You will move from the foundations of UK business writing — emails, briefing notes, reports — into presenting, meeting craft, stakeholder communication and digital channels. The Certificate is aligned with CIPR and CIM communication competencies and articulates into LSCT's Diploma routes in business communication, advertising and journalism.

Editorial work runs on deadlines, and the programme is timetabled around real publication cycles — week-of newsdays, fortnightly long-form pitches and termly portfolio reviews — rather than a uniform lecture-and-essay rhythm that bears little resemblance to a newsroom or content desk.

The Certificate is a credible UK entry-level qualification taken seriously by employers and used as evidence of structured study in CV review. Students taking the on-campus route are encouraged to attend the optional weekly study-skills sessions, which support transition into further UK higher-education study.

Key Features

UK business writing focus — emails, briefs, reports and one-page summaries.
Aligned with CIPR and CIM entry-level communication competencies.
Presentation craft — live presentations and recorded review.
Three study modes with structured weekly tutorials.
Stakeholder communication — meeting craft, listening and influencing.
Articulation route into LSCT Diplomas in advertising, communications or journalism.

What You Will Learn

The Certificate in Communication Skills is structured around five short modules and a portfolio of communication artefacts. You will graduate able to write a clear UK-style email, structure a five-minute presentation, run a meeting, and write a briefing note that survives a busy director's inbox.

UK business writing — emails, briefs, reports and one-pagers.
Presentation craft — structure, slides and live delivery.
Meeting practice — facilitation, minutes and follow-through.
Stakeholder communication — listening, influencing and managing up.
Digital channels — LinkedIn, internal collaboration tools and acceptable tone.
UK English style — clarity, tone and avoiding common register errors.

Assessment across the programme is built on published or pitchable artefacts: news stories, features, scripts, treatments, picture stories, podcast episodes, social-first cuts and editorial briefings. Faculty mark against the same standards a UK newsroom or production company applies — accuracy, structure, tone, rights and time-to-publish — and feedback is delivered in the format students will encounter in working desks.

Who This Course Is For

Early-career professionals in their twenties moving into more visible UK workplace roles.
International applicants strengthening UK English style before postgraduate or professional work.
Career changers entering UK-facing roles from non-customer-facing backgrounds.
Charity, public-sector and corporate staff stepping into stakeholder-facing positions.

Cohort sizes are deliberately capped so newsdays, pitch sessions and portfolio reviews remain genuinely interactive. Students from a wide range of starting points — recent graduates, working freelancers, career changers — pitch and edit each other's work in the same room, mirroring the cross-experience newsroom culture of a UK regional or national title.

Career Pathways

The Certificate in Communication Skills is rarely a destination on its own, but it strengthens applications across UK entry-level roles where communication is central. Typical first destinations include:

PR Account Executive at a UK agency
Press Officer (junior) at a UK regulator or charity
Social Media Manager at a UK membership body or scale-up
Content Strategist at a UK SME content desk
Communications Manager (assistant) inside a UK organisation
Digital Editor (junior) at a UK publisher

Graduates routinely progress into LSCT's Diploma in Advertising & Media Strategy or related communication qualifications.

Graduates routinely return to LSCT as guest editors, picture-desk reviewers and pitch panellists, which keeps the school plugged into how UK newsrooms and content teams are actually hiring. The faculty's working relationships across UK media — broadcast, publisher and independent — feed directly into pitch opportunities and first-job introductions for current students.

Entry Requirements

Completed secondary schooling or equivalent — no UK communication experience required for the Certificate in Communication Skills.
English language: IELTS 5.5 (or accepted equivalent) for international applicants.
Minimum age 17 at programme start.
A short personal statement; a sample of writing strengthens an application.

Why Study at LSCT

The London School of Commerce and Technology (LSCT) is a specialist higher-education provider based in central London and part of Harold International College. We teach in small cohorts so every student is visible to their tutor, run a single intake schedule that students can rely on, and partner with UK professional bodies so qualifications carry weight with employers. London puts Whitehall, the City, Silicon Roundabout, the Royal Courts of Justice, the West End and the NHS estate within a short tube ride of every classroom — and our students use that proximity in their projects, placements and graduate job hunts. For communication students, that proximity offers practice events, presentation venues and a real audience for portfolio work.

The Media, Journalism & Communication department runs a termly newsroom open day and a quarterly editor-in-residence programme with working UK senior editors and producers. Students on all three study modes are invited to participate, and the sessions are recorded for catch-up review.

Apply for Certificate in Communication Skills

If the Certificate in Communication Skills fits your goals, Click Enrol Now to start your application. The admissions team will reply within one working day with the next intake date and document checklist; a writing sample helps your application.

If you are unsure how your portfolio reads, the LSCT admissions team can arrange a short pre-application conversation with a current tutor — we look at intent and trajectory, not only existing publication credits, and several students join with little more than a blog and a clear sense of why they want to work in UK media.

Cohorts mix UK and international applicants, and the LSCT admissions team is experienced in supporting overseas credential checks, English-language equivalence reviews and the practical questions about combining communication-portfolio work with paid customer-facing employment in the UK.