GetSmarter

GetSmarter is an online education company founded in Cape Town in 2008 and owned by 2U, Inc. since 2017, sitting inside the edX ecosystem. It runs certified online short courses with universities including MIT Sloan, Yale School of Management, the London School of Economics, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, Harvard, Stanford, the University of Toronto, UC Davis, Rice and the University of Cape Town, across subjects such as artificial intelligence, business management and strategy, leadership, project management, marketing, finance, data science, sustainability, real estate, law and compliance, health sciences and supply chain. Its site says more than 600,000 professionals have taken a course. Register through the ShopBack GetSmarter page so the fee earns ShopBack cashback at the current published rate.

GetSmarter does not sell a subscription or membership. You create an account, register for a specific course cohort, and work through the Online Campus for that course. The site also runs a GetSmarter For Business arm for companies enrolling teams, and a blog with student testimonials. Because each registration is a separate purchase, each course you book through the ShopBack GetSmarter page is a separate cashback transaction, tracked on its own fee.

GetSmarter runs on cohort start dates rather than sales. Courses start throughout the year, the homepage flags cohorts that are starting soon, and registration deadlines sit close to each start date with a short late-registration window. That means the price is set per course and the lever for a Singapore learner is timing the registration to a cohort that fits your calendar, then stacking the current published ShopBack rate on the fee. Watch the ShopBack GetSmarter page around 11.11 and Black Friday on 27 November 2026, when ShopBack often upsizes rates on online learning merchants.

Every course is fully online and cohort-based. Modules are released weekly on the Online Campus with interactive video lectures, notes, quizzes and assignment briefs, and each week has one or more activity submissions due. Micro courses run about 3 weeks at roughly 4 to 5 hours a week; short courses run longer, with some programmes stretching past 12 weeks. On completion you receive a digital badge for courses under 4 weeks or a digital certificate for courses of 4 weeks or more, endorsed by the university or institution you enrolled with. You need a stable connection and a working computer; nothing is shipped.

They sell different formats. Coursera is best known for self-paced courses and specialisations you can start any time, often on a subscription. GetSmarter sells a fixed-date, cohort-based short course with weekly deadlines, tutor support and a certificate issued in the partner university's name, priced per course. If you need structure and a dated credential from a named business school such as MIT Sloan or LSE, GetSmarter fits; if you want to dip in at your own pace, Coursera fits. Check each merchant's ShopBack page for the current published rate before registering.

GetSmarter does not publish SkillsFuture eligibility on its site, and its courses are paid directly to GetSmarter in your chosen currency, which includes SGD. Before assuming credits apply, search the SkillsFuture course directory for the specific course; if it is not listed, treat it as a self-funded course. For self-funded registrations, ShopBack cashback on the course fee is the main saving available, so start the registration from the ShopBack GetSmarter page and complete it in the same session.

You can pay in full or in instalments that GetSmarter sets by course length, typically two to four, using Visa, Mastercard or American Express, electronic transfer or direct deposit, or Google Pay and Apple Pay. The site lets you display and pay in SGD among a dozen currencies. For refunds, you may cancel your registration and request a full refund within 14 calendar days of the course start date for courses of 3 weeks or less, and within 21 calendar days of the start date for longer courses. Check the FAQ for the exact terms of your course before the deadline passes.

ShopBack lists two outcomes for GetSmarter. Registration Completed is a registration that goes through with payment and is accepted into the cohort, and that is the outcome that earns cashback at the published rate. Registration Submitted is an application that was started or submitted but did not complete, and it earns nothing. In practice, finish the whole registration including payment in the same browser session you started from ShopBack, then watch for the pending transaction, which typically tracks within 2 days and confirms after about 75 days once the refund window has closed.

Pick your course on getsmarter.com first, then come back and click through fresh from the ShopBack GetSmarter page without any registration half-finished in another tab. Complete the registration and payment in the same browser session, without opening other coupon sites. Only use promo codes listed on ShopBack; unlisted third-party codes can stop tracking. Cashback typically tracks within 2 days and confirms after about 75 days. The rate is the current published rate on the ShopBack page; fees, taxes and service charges are excluded, and only a Registration Completed outcome qualifies.

Yes. Any rejected, cancelled or refunded GetSmarter registration is not eligible for ShopBack cashback, and the pending amount is removed before it confirms. Because GetSmarter allows a full refund within 14 or 21 calendar days of the course start, the 75-day confirmation window exists to let that period pass. If you defer to a later cohort rather than refund, contact ShopBack with your registration details so the transaction can be reviewed rather than voided.