Diploma Utbildning

What Diploma Utbildning is

Diploma Utbildning is a Swedish online course library for working adults who want a professional course and a diploma without traveling to a classroom. Its pitch fits in one line from the homepage: "Vi erbjuder samma utbildningar som de vanliga utbildningsföretagen - direkt i din dator, mobil eller surfplatta" (we offer the same courses as the regular training companies, directly on your computer, phone or tablet). The company, which the FAQ also calls Diploma Group, gives its address as Hantverkargatan 52 in Stockholm, and the copyright line on its site runs from 2012.

The FAQ explains the idea. When you buy a course, you get the same course you would have taken at a traditional training company: the same trainer, the same content from the same training company, leading to the same diploma and certificate you would have received on its premises. Every course it offers is equivalent to a physical one. The difference, it says, is that you skip the trip and everything except the teaching itself.

A site in transition

The older site at diplomautbildning.se now carries a notice, "Dags att byta till vår nya hemsida!" (time to switch to our new website). It says the company has built an entirely new platform with a better user experience and simpler course management, and that the old site will soon close. For existing customers, purchases and diplomas follow automatically the first time they log in to the new system, but courses already started are not moved: they must be finished on the old site or restarted on the new one. The new site is at diploma.se, the address this listing points to.

How a course works

The courses are filmed. Each one is split into several parts, usually 8-15 minutes long, and after each part you can take a knowledge test. The questions are drawn at random and all relate to the part they belong to. You cannot see which questions you got wrong, but you can retake a test as many times as you like until you pass. Once you have passed the test for every part, the course is complete and a diploma is issued.

You can pause, repeat and learn at your own pace, and all your progress is saved until you log in again. Most courses come with extra material, practice tasks, templates for exercises, and a way to contact the trainer when you need to. Each course shows its running time, defined as the time it takes to play every part in a row without pausing, repeating or working on an exercise.

Time saved compared with a classroom

The FAQ makes a specific claim about time. Because lunch, coffee breaks and group discussions are left out, it says you save half to three-quarters of the time while getting the same amount of teaching at the same pace as a classroom course. As a rule of thumb, 1 hour of filmed training corresponds to about half a day of traditional training, and 2 hours of filmed training to about a full day. The exact saving varies by course.

Diplomas and certificates

The diploma is signed by the training company that made the course. The FAQ says it certifies that you have the same knowledge as if you had passed the course on that company's premises. As long as you keep your user account, you can log in and download your diplomas, along with specifications showing what each completed course contained, which is useful when an employer asks what a course covered.

Some courses lead to a certificate rather than a diploma, and certificates can have a limited period of validity, for example two years; when that applies it is stated clearly on the diploma. The FAQ is candid about two limits. International validity depends on each country's rules, so the company cannot guarantee that a certificate is accepted outside Sweden. And the courses do not give university credits ("Utbildningarna ger inte högskolepoäng").

Quality

The homepage says the service is "Kvalitetssäkrat av Almega", quality assured by Almega, and lists the areas covered: relevant courses, staff competence, pedagogy, follow-up of results, systematic quality work, competence needs, structure and method development.

Access, PREMIUM and the guarantee

Each course you buy gives 3 months of access from the purchase date, and My Pages shows how much time remains on each one, so you can buy a course now and finish it later. PREMIUM instead gives access to every course for 12 months from the purchase date, to start, pause, repeat and finish whenever it suits you. The FAQ notes that PREMIUM users can even choose a course by which trainer in the subject they find most pleasant.

The "Nöjd Kund-garanti" (satisfied customer guarantee) covers buyers who regret their choice. If you are not happy with a course, you contact the company and it offers a new course at no cost, once, in the same price class. PREMIUM users can simply switch to another course.

If the catalog lacks a course you want, the FAQ asks you to get in touch, saying the company is trying to widen its range in every sector and industry.

Buying and paying

Anyone who is of legal age and has an e-mail address can become a customer, after accepting the general terms. Payment is by invoice only, through Fortnox Finans, sent to your e-mail address for environmental reasons, with a paper invoice on request. Card payment is not offered. Private customers pay within 15 days. Courses invoiced to a company are on 30-day terms, with an invoicing fee of 20 kronor excluding VAT. The FAQ and homepage give no course prices; those sit in the course catalog.

Support runs through customer service by e-mail and phone, and the FAQ covers login problems, recommending Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome over Internet Explorer. A newsletter carries news, inspiration and current offers.

Who it suits

Diploma Utbildning suits Swedish-speaking professionals and employers who want a recognized training company's course without losing a day to travel: someone who needs a diploma for their CV or their manager, a team that can fit a few 8-15 minute parts into a working week, or a company that wants invoices on 30-day terms. PREMIUM suits a learner who wants to take several courses in a year, and the 3-month course access suits someone with one specific need.

It is a weaker fit for learners who want live teaching or group discussion, which the format deliberately leaves out, or who need university credits. For workplace training with a provider-signed diploma, it offers a quicker route than the classroom.