diff --git a/course/externallib.php b/course/externallib.php
index ac64324eb4b..1f631b27a3b 100644
--- a/course/externallib.php
+++ b/course/externallib.php
@@ -611,6 +611,7 @@ class core_course_external extends external_api {
                     $courseinfo['customfields'][] = [
                         'type' => $data->get_type(),
                         'value' => $data->get_value(),
+                        'valueraw' => $data->get_data_controller()->get_value(),
                         'name' => $data->get_name(),
                         'shortname' => $data->get_shortname()
                     ];
@@ -735,6 +736,7 @@ class core_course_external extends external_api {
                                      'shortname' => new external_value(PARAM_ALPHANUMEXT, 'The shortname of the custom field'),
                                      'type'  => new external_value(PARAM_COMPONENT,
                                          'The type of the custom field - text, checkbox...'),
+                                     'valueraw' => new external_value(PARAM_RAW, 'The raw value of the custom field'),
                                      'value' => new external_value(PARAM_RAW, 'The value of the custom field')]
                                 ), 'Custom fields and associated values', VALUE_OPTIONAL),
                         ), 'course'
@@ -2489,6 +2491,7 @@ class core_course_external extends external_api {
                 $coursereturns['customfields'][] = [
                     'type' => $data->get_type(),
                     'value' => $data->get_value(),
+                    'valueraw' => $data->get_data_controller()->get_value(),
                     'name' => $data->get_name(),
                     'shortname' => $data->get_shortname()
                 ];
@@ -2640,6 +2643,7 @@ class core_course_external extends external_api {
                             'The shortname of the custom field - to be able to build the field class in the code'),
                         'type'  => new external_value(PARAM_ALPHANUMEXT,
                             'The type of the custom field - text field, checkbox...'),
+                        'valueraw' => new external_value(PARAM_RAW, 'The raw value of the custom field'),
                         'value' => new external_value(PARAM_RAW, 'The value of the custom field'),
                     )
                 ), 'Custom fields', VALUE_OPTIONAL),
diff --git a/course/tests/externallib_test.php b/course/tests/externallib_test.php
index fcf938bc876..dcd48ee7cb6 100644
--- a/course/tests/externallib_test.php
+++ b/course/tests/externallib_test.php
@@ -775,8 +775,16 @@ class core_course_externallib_testcase extends externallib_advanced_testcase {
                     array('name' => 'coursedisplay', 'value' => $dbcourse->coursedisplay),
                 ));
             }
-            if ($dbcourse->id == 4) {
-                $this->assertEquals($course['customfields'], [array_merge($customfield, $customfieldvalue)]);
+
+            // Assert custom field that we previously added to test course 4.
+            if ($dbcourse->id == $course4->id) {
+                $this->assertEquals([
+                    'shortname' => $customfield['shortname'],
+                    'name' => $customfield['name'],
+                    'type' => $customfield['type'],
+                    'value' => $customfieldvalue['value'],
+                    'valueraw' => $customfieldvalue['value'],
+                ], $course['customfields'][0]);
             }
         }
 
@@ -789,6 +797,49 @@ class core_course_externallib_testcase extends externallib_advanced_testcase {
         $this->assertEquals($DB->count_records('course'), count($courses));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Test retrieving courses returns custom field data
+     */
+    public function test_get_courses_customfields(): void {
+        $this->resetAfterTest();
+        $this->setAdminUser();
+
+        $fieldcategory = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_custom_field_category([]);
+        $datefield = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_custom_field([
+            'categoryid' => $fieldcategory->get('id'),
+            'shortname' => 'mydate',
+            'name' => 'My date',
+            'type' => 'date',
+        ]);
+
+        $newcourse = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_course(['customfields' => [
+            [
+                'shortname' => $datefield->get('shortname'),
+                'value' => 1580389200, // 30/01/2020 13:00 GMT.
+            ],
+        ]]);
+
+        $courses = external_api::clean_returnvalue(
+            core_course_external::get_courses_returns(),
+            core_course_external::get_courses(['ids' => [$newcourse->id]])
+        );
+
+        $this->assertCount(1, $courses);
+        $course = reset($courses);
+
+        $this->assertArrayHasKey('customfields', $course);
+        $this->assertCount(1, $course['customfields']);
+
+        // Assert the received custom field, "value" containing a human-readable version and "valueraw" the unmodified version.
+        $this->assertEquals([
+            'name' => $datefield->get('name'),
+            'shortname' => $datefield->get('shortname'),
+            'type' => $datefield->get('type'),
+            'value' => userdate(1580389200),
+            'valueraw' => 1580389200,
+        ], reset($course['customfields']));
+    }
+
     /**
      * Test get_courses without capability
      */
@@ -912,6 +963,49 @@ class core_course_externallib_testcase extends externallib_advanced_testcase {
         $results = core_course_external::search_courses('blocklist', $blockid);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Test searching for courses returns custom field data
+     */
+    public function test_search_courses_customfields(): void {
+        $this->resetAfterTest();
+        $this->setAdminUser();
+
+        $fieldcategory = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_custom_field_category([]);
+        $datefield = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_custom_field([
+            'categoryid' => $fieldcategory->get('id'),
+            'shortname' => 'mydate',
+            'name' => 'My date',
+            'type' => 'date',
+        ]);
+
+        $newcourse = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_course(['customfields' => [
+            [
+                'shortname' => $datefield->get('shortname'),
+                'value' => 1580389200, // 30/01/2020 13:00 GMT.
+            ],
+        ]]);
+
+        $result = external_api::clean_returnvalue(
+            core_course_external::search_courses_returns(),
+            core_course_external::search_courses('search', $newcourse->shortname)
+        );
+
+        $this->assertCount(1, $result['courses']);
+        $course = reset($result['courses']);
+
+        $this->assertArrayHasKey('customfields', $course);
+        $this->assertCount(1, $course['customfields']);
+
+        // Assert the received custom field, "value" containing a human-readable version and "valueraw" the unmodified version.
+        $this->assertEquals([
+            'name' => $datefield->get('name'),
+            'shortname' => $datefield->get('shortname'),
+            'type' => $datefield->get('type'),
+            'value' => userdate(1580389200),
+            'valueraw' => 1580389200,
+        ], reset($course['customfields']));
+    }
+
     /**
      * Create a course with contents
      * @return array A list with the course object and course modules objects
@@ -2453,8 +2547,13 @@ class core_course_externallib_testcase extends externallib_advanced_testcase {
         $this->assertCount(1, $result['courses']);
         $this->assertEquals($course2->id, $result['courses'][0]['id']);
         // Check custom fields properly returned.
-        unset($customfield['categoryid']);
-        $this->assertEquals([array_merge($customfield, $customfieldvalue)], $result['courses'][0]['customfields']);
+        $this->assertEquals([
+            'shortname' => $customfield['shortname'],
+            'name' => $customfield['name'],
+            'type' => $customfield['type'],
+            'value' => $customfieldvalue['value'],
+            'valueraw' => $customfieldvalue['value'],
+        ], $result['courses'][0]['customfields'][0]);
 
         $result = core_course_external::get_courses_by_field('ids', "$course1->id,$course2->id");
         $result = external_api::clean_returnvalue(core_course_external::get_courses_by_field_returns(), $result);
@@ -2583,6 +2682,49 @@ class core_course_externallib_testcase extends externallib_advanced_testcase {
         $this->assertCount(0, $result['courses']);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Test retrieving courses by field returns custom field data
+     */
+    public function test_get_courses_by_field_customfields(): void {
+        $this->resetAfterTest();
+        $this->setAdminUser();
+
+        $fieldcategory = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_custom_field_category([]);
+        $datefield = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_custom_field([
+            'categoryid' => $fieldcategory->get('id'),
+            'shortname' => 'mydate',
+            'name' => 'My date',
+            'type' => 'date',
+        ]);
+
+        $newcourse = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_course(['customfields' => [
+            [
+                'shortname' => $datefield->get('shortname'),
+                'value' => 1580389200, // 30/01/2020 13:00 GMT.
+            ],
+        ]]);
+
+        $result = external_api::clean_returnvalue(
+            core_course_external::get_courses_by_field_returns(),
+            core_course_external::get_courses_by_field('id', $newcourse->id)
+        );
+
+        $this->assertCount(1, $result['courses']);
+        $course = reset($result['courses']);
+
+        $this->assertArrayHasKey('customfields', $course);
+        $this->assertCount(1, $course['customfields']);
+
+        // Assert the received custom field, "value" containing a human-readable version and "valueraw" the unmodified version.
+        $this->assertEquals([
+            'name' => $datefield->get('name'),
+            'shortname' => $datefield->get('shortname'),
+            'type' => $datefield->get('type'),
+            'value' => userdate(1580389200),
+            'valueraw' => 1580389200,
+        ], reset($course['customfields']));
+    }
+
     public function test_get_courses_by_field_invalid_field() {
         $this->expectException('invalid_parameter_exception');
         $result = core_course_external::get_courses_by_field('zyx', 'x');
diff --git a/course/upgrade.txt b/course/upgrade.txt
index e56837d5b02..69bf9230ad4 100644
--- a/course/upgrade.txt
+++ b/course/upgrade.txt
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ information provided here is intended especially for developers.
 
 * The function make_categories_options() has now been deprecated. Please use \core_course_category::make_categories_list() instead.
 * External function core_course_external::get_course_contents now returns a new field contextid with the module context id.
+* The core_course_external class methods get_courses(), get_courses_by_field() and search_courses() now return a "valueraw" property
+  for each custom course field, which contains the original/unformatted version of the custom field value.
 
 === 3.9 ===