Why every woman deserves a qualification no one can take away

In this story

In short

• A qualification is portable. It travels with you across jobs, borders and life changes.
• Pick the next level that fits your life now, not the perfect course you might do one day.
• Online UK qualifications let you study around work and family, one unit at a time.

When I was starting out, someone told me that a woman's safety net is the people around her. I understood what they meant, and I am grateful for the people around me. But I learnt something different along the way. The safety net that never let me down was what I had learnt.

People move on. Companies restructure. Visas expire. A qualification stays on your record and in your head, whatever else happens. Nobody can sign it away, and nobody can decide for you whether you are allowed to use it.

1Learning is the one thing you carry everywhere

I have built businesses in two countries. Each time, the first question people asked was not who I knew. It was what I could do, and how they could be sure. A recognised qualification answers that second question before you even open your mouth.

For women this matters even more. We are more likely to take career breaks, more likely to move for a partner's job, and more likely to be underestimated when we walk into a room. A certificate will not fix any of that on its own. It does give you something solid to stand on while you fix the rest.

Jobs change, countries change, marriages change. What you have learnt stays with you.

Asiri Perera

2How I chose each of mine

I did not plan a neat path. I chose the next qualification that would open the next door. A diploma gave me the basics of business. Law taught me to read the small print and argue my case. My MBA gave me the language to run larger teams, and my doctorate is teaching me to ask better questions.

Each one paid for itself, though rarely in the way I expected. The value often showed up years later, in a conversation, a contract or a door that opened because I was ready for it.

3How to choose yours

Start with where you are, not where you think you should be. These four steps are the same ones I walk through with every woman who books a consultation with me.

1. Write down the door you want to openA promotion, a visa route, a new industry or your own business. Be specific.
2. Find the level that door asks forUK qualifications run from Level 3, similar to A Levels, up to Level 7, which is master's level.
3. Check the hours honestlyCount the evenings and weekends you really have, then choose a course that fits them.
4. Make sure it is recognisedAsk who awards it and whether employers and universities in your target country accept it.

4Start smaller than you think

The biggest mistake I see is waiting for the right time. There is no right time. There is this month, and the hour you can find in it.

Enrol in one short course. Finish it. Notice how it feels to hold something you earned. Then choose the next one. That is how every qualification I own began, and it is how yours can begin too.

Learn. Do. Rise. In that order, and as many times as you need.

About the author

Asiri Perera

British entrepreneur, educator and founder of Learn Do Rise®. Asiri helps women, students and founders in the UK and Sri Lanka learn a skill, build a career and give back.

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