Free online courses with certificates
Sixteen complete classes and 207 lessons, every one of them free. Read the lesson, work the problems, then pass the exam and keep a certificate with its own serial number that anyone can check. No account, no fee, nothing to install.
Global Sovereign University
Certificate of Comprehension
awarded to
Your name
Residential Electrical
Issued with a unique serial number, verifiable by anyone
Take the lessons
Each lesson teaches part of the book: the reading, which can be read aloud to you, hands-on practice, and questions that send you back to the idea you missed. Your progress saves on your own device.
Pass the exam
Thirty questions or more, graded on our server. Eighty percent passes; ninety earns Gold. If you fall short, you are told what to study and you can try again.
Keep the certificate
You get a serial number the moment you pass. Anyone you show it to can check that it is real.
Pick a class and start today
Every class below is complete: all its lessons are open and its certificate exam is live. Each is taught from a book written by our founder and donated to the Foundation.
Trades Geometry
The math carpenters, plumbers, electricians and framers use on the job: the tape, squaring, rafters, stairs, offsets and material takeoffs.
Residential Electrical
How the electricity in a home works and how to work around it safely: the panel, circuits, outlets, switches, GFCI and AFCI protection, and the multimeter.
Residential Framing
How a house frame goes together, from the lumber to the load path: floors, walls, openings, layout and roofs.
Basic Appliance Repair
Diagnose the washer, dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, oven and water heater before the repair estimate arrives.
HVAC
From the physics of heat to a diagnostic call: the refrigeration cycle, load and duct math, controls, furnaces, heat pumps and troubleshooting.
Home Plumbing
Supply and drain, every shutoff in the house, toilets, faucets, the P-trap, the water heater and pipe repair.
Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Installers
From how a solar cell works to the day the utility approves the system, each lesson explained at three levels.
The Stonemason's Discipline
Brick, stone, mortar and drainage, from setting up the site to restoring work that time and water have already tested.
Total Productive Maintenance
The fundamentals of keeping equipment running: OEE, the six big losses and the pillars of TPM, from a founder who taught it in Mexico City in 1994.
Modern TPM
The whole book: the six big losses and eight pillars, then data, sensors, predictive maintenance, OEE and the road to TPM 4.0.
AI + TPM
What maintenance means when the thing wearing out is a workflow, a model or a team's judgement.
Building Maintenance
Apartment maintenance chapter by chapter: daily triage, plumbing, HVAC, appliances, electrical, water intrusion and the five-day make-ready.
The Real Org Chart
Every organization has two structures. This class teaches the one drawn in decisions, handovers and authority, the one that decides whether work gets done.
Surprise Is Constant
The brain as a prediction engine, the mathematics of uncertainty, and how to stay steady when the map fails.
Every Way We Speak
Listening, words, pronunciation, learning a new language and every channel we speak through, ending in debate and leadership.
Computer Literacy Unlocked
From absolute beginner to confident: files, typing, documents, spreadsheets, email, staying safe, the cloud, phones and AI. Written for adults.
What the certificate proves
It proves you understood what you studied. You earned it by passing a real exam that you could have failed, and its serial number lets anyone confirm it.
It is not a license, a trade credential or college credit. We say so plainly so that nobody is misled. If your work needs a license, the class is a strong way to prepare, and the license still comes from your state or the licensing body.
How it can be free
Global Sovereign University is run by the Foundation for Global Instruction, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Every class is taught from a book by our founder, Dr. Gene A Constant, who donated his catalog to the Foundation.
The classes cost nothing. Buying a book, for yourself or someone else, is what keeps them that way.
Questions people ask first
Is it really free?
Yes. Every lesson, every exam and every certificate is free. There is no trial and no payment step later.
Do I need to sign up?
No. There is no account and no email. Your lesson progress is saved in your own browser. The only thing we ask for is the name you want printed on your certificate.
How long does a class take?
At your own pace. Classes run from 6 to 20 lessons, each taught from the book. You can stop and come back where you left off.
Can I fail the exam?
Yes, and that is what makes the certificate worth having. You need 80% to pass and 90% for Gold. If you fall short, you are shown which ideas to go back to, and you can try again.
Is Global Sovereign University accredited?
No. We are a nonprofit that teaches for free, and our certificates are certificates of comprehension. They are not academic credit, licenses or industry certifications, and we never describe them that way.
I already know the material. Can I go straight to the exam?
Yes. Every live exam is listed on the certificates page.
Not sure where to begin? Lesson one of Trades Geometry teaches you to read a tape measure to the sixteenth of an inch.
Start Trades Geometry