Understanding Gemstones –
Free Online Courses by SSEF

Start your journey to becoming a gem expert with these introductory online courses and access trustworthy information from one of the world’s leading authorities on coloured gemstones, diamonds and pearls.

Who are these courses for?

  • Curious about diamonds and gemstones who wants to start learning more with free courses.
  • People in the diamond, gem or jewellery trade that want to gain expert insights on topics such as synthetic diamonds, treatments in emeralds, ruby origins, colour terms in sapphires or the rarity of natural pearls. And many more themes and gems.

About the courses

  • Self-paced courses: access the information you want, when you want it.
  • Test your knowledge about these different gems with a quiz at the end of each course. Please note these are short introductory courses, they are not trade qualifications nor do they give you the possibility of adding letters/credentials after your name.

What’s next?

You have taken our free courses and now want to deepen your knowledge about gems? Then our premium introduction courses are for you. You might be interested by our Basic Gemmology course or our Basic Diamonds course.

About your instructor

SSEF is a non-profit Swiss foundation whose aim it is to further the science of gemstone testing and gemmological training. We are one of the leading gem labs in the world and have scientifically tested many of the world’s most prestigious gemstones.