Open units are units which are outside of a student's subject discipline(s) that are available in many undergraduate programmes (subject to space and timetabling constraints). Typically these units are interdisciplinary and do not have any pre- or co-requisites. Single honours undergraduate students are normally able to choose up to 20 credit points of open units.
The University has developed a number of thematic, interdisciplinary "Bristol Futures" open units which deal with issues and themes of current importance. Details of these units are available here including video trailers for some of the units. Specific details about each unit is available below. The Bristol Futures optional units are:
City Futures: Migration, Citizenship, and Planetary Change
Creative Futures: Tools for Changing the World
Decolonise the Future!
Science of Happiness
Sustainable Development
Understanding global problems using data: inequality, climate change and the economy
The open units scheme also includes the University Wide Language Programme units. Details of these are available here as well as specific information about each unit below.
It is possible that open units appearing on this list will be unavailable if capacity has been taken up by students taking it as an optional unit.
What do the teaching blocks (TB) mean?
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Academic Listening and Speaking | LANG10007 | 10 |
| Academic Reading and Writing | LANG10008 | 10 |
| Advanced English Language Studies | LANG14011 | 20 |
| Advanced Legal and Socio-Legal Research Methods | LAWDM0084 | 20 |
| African narratives of migration | FREN30039 | 20 |
| American Fiction that Matters: US Writing in 'The American Century' | MODL23012 | 20 |
| Approaches to Poetry | ENGL10026 | 20 |
| Arts Students Count | AFAC10004 | 20 |
| Atheism | THRSM0107 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Biophysics and Molecular Life Sciences I | BIOCM0008 | 20 |
| Biophysics and Molecular Life Sciences II | BIOCM0009 | 20 |
| Brazilian Portuguese Level 2 Grade 2 | LANG20004 | 20 |
| Brazilian Portuguese for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 1 | LANG10005 | 20 |
| Buddhism: The Foundations | THRSM0015 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Cancer Biology | PANMM0014 | 20 |
| Cardiovascular Research | PHPHM0005 | 20 |
| Charles Dickens | ENGLM3019 | 20 |
| Child Nutrition, Activity and Health | SPOL30034 | 20 |
| Child and Adolescent Psychology | SPOL20032 | 20 |
| Children and Social Harm | SPOL30060 | 20 |
| Children and Young People in the Law A | SPOL30057 | 20 |
| Children in Society I: An introduction | SOWK10001 | 20 |
| Children in Society II: Children and Contemporary Society | SOWK10002 | 20 |
| Children in a Global Context | SPOL32008 | 20 |
| Classics of European Cinema | MODL10010 | 20 |
| Contemporary British Cinema | MODL30007 | 20 |
| Contemporary British Theatre | DRAM30053 | 20 |
| Contemporary European Cinema | MODL10009 | 20 |
| Convincing stories? Numbers as evidence in the social sciences | UNIV10002 | 20 |
| Core Physics I:Mechanics and Matter | PHYS10006 | 20 |
| Criminology: an introduction | SPOL10019 | 20 |
| Czech Language (Elementary) | MODL23015 | 20 |
| Czech for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 1 (ab initio) | LANG10013 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Disabled Childhoods | SPOLM0050 | 20 |
| Dissertation | BIOCM0005 | 60 |
| Domestic Violence: Research, Policy and Activism | SPOLD2029 | 20 |
| Drugs and Society | SPOL21011 | 20 |
| Drugs and Society | SPOL30011 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Early and Premodern Christianity | THRS20100 | 20 |
| Education and Society | SPOL20020 | 20 |
| Education and Society | SPOL30028 | 20 |
| Education, Schooling and Diversity | SPOL10015 | 20 |
| Engineering Physics | EMAT10005 | 20 |
| Environment Earth | EASC10004 | 20 |
| Environmental Geoscience 1 | EASC10002 | 40 |
| Exiles and Migrants in German Literature | GERM30058 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Family Support | SOWK20002 | 20 |
| French for Business and Enterprise | FREN30047 | 20 |
| French for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 2 (post GCSE) | LANG12022 | 20 |
| French for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 3 (post A'Level) | LANG13022 | 20 |
| French for Specific Purposes Level 2 Grade 1 | LANG21022 | 20 |
| French for Specific Purposes Level 2 Grade 2 | LANG22022 | 20 |
| Further Qualitative Methods | SPOLM0017 | 20 |
| Further Quantitative Methods | SPOLM0016 | 20 |
| Future Leaders in Contexts of Change (Teach First) | EDUCM0031 | 30 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Galaxies and the Universe | PHYS11500 | 20 |
| Gender Based Violence | SPOL20021 | 20 |
| Gender based Violence | SPOL30029 | 20 |
| German History and Thought | GERM10037 | 20 |
| German Literature and Film: Genres, Texts, Contexts | GERM10035 | 20 |
| German for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 2 (post GCSE) | LANG12023 | 20 |
| German for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 1 (ab-initio) | LANG11043 | 20 |
| German for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 3 (post A'Level) | LANG13023 | 20 |
| German for Specific Purposes Level 2 Grade 1 | LANG21023 | 20 |
| German for Specific Purposes Level 2 Grade 2 | LANG22023 | 20 |
| Global Contexts of Rights and Disability | SPOLM0049 | 20 |
| Green Planet | BIOL20013 | 10 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Health Policy in a Global Context | SPOL30055 | 20 |
| Historical Studies 1: Western Art Music (up to 1750) | MUSI10045 | 20 |
| Historical Studies II : Western Art Music (1750 to the present day) | MUSI10046 | 20 |
| History of the USA Since 1865 | MODL23010 | 20 |
| Human-Computer Interaction | COMS21301 | 10 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Japanese for General Purposes (ab-initio) | LANG11046 | 20 |
| Japanese for General Purposes (post-intermediate) | LANG32046 | 20 |
| Japanese for General Purposes Intermediate | LANG31046 | 20 |
| Japanese for General Purposes Pre-Intermediate | LANG21046 | 20 |
| Jewish Law | LAWD30010 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Language and Literacy in Young Children | SPOL30036 | 20 |
| Language for General Purposes (Ab-initio Mandarin Chinese) | LANG11047 | 20 |
| Language for General Purposes - French Level 1, Grade 1 | LANG11042 | 20 |
| Law Gender and Sexuality | LAWDM0033 | 30 |
| Living Religions | THRS10028 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Marine Ecology and Physiology | BIOL21403 | 10 |
| Mathematics 1A20 | MATH11004 | 20 |
| Medieval Music Palaeography | MUSIM0044 | 20 |
| Medieval Mystics and Visionaries in Medieval England | THRSM0100 | 20 |
| Migration Policy in the UK and European Union | SPOL20030 | 20 |
| Migration Policy in the UK and European Union | SPOL30030 | 20 |
| Migration, asylum and human rights: EU and global policy perspectives. | SPOLM0042 | 20 |
| Modern Italy | ITAL10029 | 20 |
| Modern Standard Arabic Level 1 Grade 1 | LANG10012 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Neuroscience | PHPHM0006 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Pedagogy and Curriculum in TESOL | EDUCM5902 | 20 |
| Personal Welfare Services | SPOL30053 | 20 |
| Personal Welfare Services | SPOL20053 | 20 |
| Pharmacology | PHPHM0007 | 20 |
| Philosophical Approaches to Religious Experience | THRS20206 | 20 |
| Philosophical Texts 1: Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion | PHIL10003 | 10 |
| Play and Creativity | SPOL22021 | 20 |
| Poverty, Inequality and Social Inclusion Research | SPOLD2024 | 20 |
| Poverty, Social Exclusion and Social Policy | SPOL20019 | 20 |
| Poverty, Social Exclusion and Social Policy | SPOL30019 | 20 |
| Prague: A Tale of Three Cities | MODL30017 | 20 |
| Precursors of Modernism: Heine, Buchner, Kleist | GERM30057 | 20 |
| Punishment in Society | SPOL20052 | 20 |
| Punishment in Society | SPOL30052 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Reception Studies | MODLM0024 | 20 |
| Reimagining Odysseus | MODL30019 | 20 |
| Reproduction Law, Ethics, and Policy | LAWD30068 | 20 |
| Researching Health and Social Care | SPOLM5004 | 20 |
| Russia in the 1990s: A Decade of Chaos? | RUSS30065 | 20 |
| Russian Language Level 2 Grade 1 | LANG20005 | 20 |
| Russian Orthodox Culture | RUSS20044 | 20 |
| Russian for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 2 (post GCSE) | LANG10014 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| The Bible in the Academy | THRS20093 | 20 |
| The Body, Gender and Religion | THRS20192 | 20 |
| The Dynamic Cell | BIOCM0007 | 20 |
| The Foundations of Buddhist Thought and Practice | THRS20031 | 20 |
| The History of Christianity: Core Texts | THRSM0001 | 20 |
| The Public Role of the Humanities | HUMS30001 | 20 |
| The State of Welfare | SPOL20027 | 20 |
| The State of Welfare | SPOL30044 | 20 |
| The True, the Good, and the Beautiful: Neoplatonism in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam | THRSM0108 | 20 |
| Therapeutic Work with Children | SPOL30035 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Understanding Russia: Critical Approaches | RUSS10039 | 20 |
| Urban Governance and Democracy | SPOL20028 | 20 |
| Urban Governance and Democracy | SPOL30045 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| War Stories: Representation and Memory of Conflict in France since World War One | FREN30041 | 20 |
| World in Crisis? | GEOG16001 | 20 |
| Writing Revolution: Russian Literature, 1910-1940 | RUSS30068 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| Youth Justice | SPOL32006 | 20 |
| Youth Justice | SPOL20022 | 20 |
| Youth Policy and Social Welfare | SPOL22022 | 20 |
| Youth, Sexualities and Gendered Violence | SPOL22023 | 20 |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other Top | ||
| 'Talking to Tyrants' Politics, Thought and Drama in 1780s Germany | GERM20030 | 20 |
| 3000 Years of Chinese Religions | THRS20103 | 20 |
| ‘Hedgehogs and Foxes’: The Nineteenth-Century Russian Novel 2019 | RUSS20013 | 20 |
