Quality managers are at the frontline of safeguarding an enterprise's integrity. Whether in pharmaceuticals, biotech, food and beverage, medical devices, or any industry with a need for serious regulatory compliance, being equipped with the best skills and knowledge is crucial.
Most life-sciences organisations periodically provide training for their teams. While more traditional options like university programs offer valuable education, they often come with a hefty price tag. In contrast, online and in-person courses are far more affordable and accessible. But what are the available courses you can enrol in?
This article covers 11+ compliance and risk management courses for quality managers. From industry specific groups to standards organisations and EdTech platforms, each provider offers compliance and risks management courses.
Online training providers
- Udemy
Udemy is a well-known online training platform that offers and expansive catalogue of different courses, including compliance and risk management. Designed for ease and accessibility of learning, this provider offers on-demand videos and downloadable resources. Many of the courses provide certifications upon completion, though these might not be as respected as other certifications that exist.
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- Coursera
Coursera is another online education platform that partners with top universities and organisations to offer courses to upskill teams. This provider specialises in providing accredited courses, Coursera is an excellent resource for quality managers looking to improve their skills in compliance and risk management.
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- Alison
ALISON is an Irish online education platform that offers free, certified courses for higher education and professional skill development. ALISON provides a variety of courses relevant to quality management systems and compliance. Its offerings are best suited to understanding international standards in industries like medical devices. ALISON is a great resource for quality managers looking for training in quality assurance and risk management in particular.
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- EdX
EdX offers lots of online courses, several of which are relevant to quality managers looking to improve their knowledge of regulatory compliance & quality assurance. The platform provides access to courses that cover topics like compliance standards, quality management systems, and regulatory frameworks. EdX mostly has content that is more geared towards medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and cannabis production industries. This content is of course a lot more industry-specific and less of a general overview of specific skills.
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Specialised training providers
- NSF
NSF is a product testing, inspection, and certification organisation that also offers consulting and training services worldwide. Well-experienced in safeguarding public health, NSF's courses are tailored specifically for quality managers. NSF offers training and certification programs for making sure products and processes meet health and safety standards.
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- GxP Training
GxP Training is an online education provider that specialises almost exclusively in compliance and operational efficiency in the life sciences sector. This educator has a catalogue of courses for industries like pharmaceuticals, food, and medical devices. GxP Training also offers custom course development, tailoring training for specific needs. They have certified professionals from enterprises such as Merck, Novartis and IQIVIA.
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GMP: Good Manufacturing Practices Courses
- AAPS
The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) is a professional and scientific group that connects roughly 7,000 members and over 10,000 stakeholders around the world. These members are in academia, industry, government, and many different pharmaceutical science fields. AAPS is dedicated to offering educational development resources for pharmaceutical scientists.
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Professional associations
- PDA
The Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) is a leader in offering science, technology, and regulatory guidance to the pharmaceutical & biopharmaceutical industries. PDA is a nonprofit aimed at delivering scientifically “sound, practical technical information and expertise to advance pharmaceutical/biopharmaceutical manufacturing science and regulation”.
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- AAMI
The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) is a nonprofit standards organisation, focused on advancing health technology safely and effectively. AAMI sets consensus standards for the medical device industry and alongside this, offers training programs. These include Quality Systems and Risk Management courses to help quality managers improve safety and efficacy of medical devices. They also offer Regulatory courses on complying with national and international medical device regulations.
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- ISPE
The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) is a global nonprofit association that advances scientific, technical, and regulatory best practices across the entire pharmaceutical lifecycle. ISPE provides education, training, and professional development opportunities. They provide in-person, online training as well as host conferences.
Highlighted training:
- ASQ
ASQ (American Society for Quality) provides training courses that are targeted at quality professionals interested in expanding their knowledge of risk management, quality management, and quality control. This includes both practical skills and theoretical knowledge. ASQ's training is especially valuable for industry compliance and enhancing operational efficiencies, though their content might be more dense and less accessible than the content provided by EdTech providers.
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How to track compliance and risk management training?
Beyond selecting which course to do, actually completing the training and keeping track of progress is important, especially if it's a whole team initiative.
Training management on a spreadsheet [Free Template]
For teams looking for a more accessible (and cost-effective solution), we've created a free training management template available to easily download. This is an Excel-based tool designed to help manage and track training within any team.
Download the Training Management Template here.
By using the template, quality managers can:
- Track progress
- Record completion statuses
- Analyse training data
The template allows teams to easily update and review the training progress of every team member, so that no one falls behind. With all data in one place, it then becomes simpler to see insights and see the effectiveness of training courses. We hope you find this template useful!
Training management on a QMS
A more foolproof option is to use an electronic quality management system (eQMS). Many eQMS might not come built with a training management tool, but really comprehensive templates will provide this kind of service as part of their standard offering.
Tracking compliance and risk management training is essential for keeping to high standards in quality management. Seal offers training management as part of its QMS solution. Seal offers all on one platform: