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 | ||
| A Consumer Revolution: The Rise of Consumer Culture in Britain (Level I Lecture Response) | HIST25004 | 20 |
| American Fiction that Matters: US Writing in 'The American Century' | MODL23012 | 20 |
| Anguish in Eden: Foundations of American Prose Writing | MODL23011 | 20 |
| Animated Film | DRAM23137 | 20 |
| Architecture and Urbanism | HART20019 | 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 | ||
| Brazilian Portuguese Level 2 Grade 2 | LANG20003 | 20 |
| Brazilian Portuguese Level 2 Grade 2 | LANG20004 | 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 | ||
| Catalan Language (Elementary) | MODL23014 | 20 |
| Chekhov on the World Stage | RUSS20014 | 20 |
| Conservation Biology | BIOL20401 | 10 |
| Contemporary Ethics | THRS20194 | 20 |
| Criminology | SPOL21010 | 20 |
| Czech Language (Elementary) | MODL23015 | 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 | ||
| Developmental and Cellular Physiology of the Specialised Cell | PHPH20010 | 20 |
| Documentary Histories and Practices | DRAM23135 | 20 |
| Drugs and Society | SPOL21011 | 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 | ||
| Education and Society | SPOL20020 | 20 |
| Environmental Imperialism (Level I Lecture Response Unit) | HIST20048 | 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 | ||
| Film and TV Comedy | DRAM23122 | 20 |
| Film and Television Histories | DRAM23123 | 20 |
| French for Specific Purposes Level 2 Grade 1 | LANG21022 | 20 |
| French for Specific Purposes Level 2 Grade 2 | LANG22022 | 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 | ||
| Gender Based Violence | SPOL20021 | 20 |
| German for Specific Purposes Level 2 Grade 1 | LANG21023 | 20 |
| German for Specific Purposes Level 2 Grade 2 | LANG22023 | 20 |
| Ghosts, Death and the Afterlife | THRS20167 | 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 | ||
| Histories and Theories of Art | HART22223 | 20 |
| History of the USA Before 1865 | MODL23009 | 20 |
| History of the USA Since 1865 | MODL23010 | 20 |
| Hollywood Cinema History | DRAM23126 | 20 |
| Homeric Society | CLAS22343 | 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 | ||
| Integrative Physiology | PHPH20008 | 20 |
| Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy | THRS20193 | 20 |
| Introduction to Linguistics | MODL23013 | 20 |
| Introduction to Public Management | EFIM20004 | 20 |
| Introduction to Sanskrit 1 | THRS20188 | 20 |
| Introduction to Sanskrit 2 | THRS20189 | 20 |
| Issues in the Study of Religion | THRS20099 | 20 |
| Italian for Specific Purposes Level 2 Grade 1 | LANG21024 | 20 |
| Italian for Specific Purposes Level 2 Grade 2 | LANG22024 | 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 | ||
| Japanese for General Purposes Pre-Intermediate | LANG21046 | 20 |
| Jewish Experience in Modern European History (Level I Lecture Response Unit) | HIST20044 | 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, Culture, and Society | ARCH20045 | 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 | ||
| Mandarin Chinese for General Purposes (pre-intermediate) | LANG21047 | 20 |
| Marine Ecology and Physiology | BIOL21403 | 10 |
| Markets, Government and Public Policy | SPOL20017 | 20 |
| Medieval English Lifestyles (Lecture Response Unit) | HIST20028 | 20 |
| Melodrama | DRAM20054 | 20 |
| Memory and History in the Twentieth Century | MODL20010 | 20 |
| Migration Policy in the UK and European Union | SPOL20030 | 20 |
| Modern Art in the USA 1900-1939 (Lecture Response Unit) | HART20005 | 20 |
| Modern Girls and New Women (Level I Lecture Response Unit) | HIST20079 | 20 |
| Modern Latin American Revolutions | HIST20042 | 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 | ||
| Neurophysiology | PHPH20009 | 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 | ||
| Pagan Religions of the Roman Empire | CLAS27003 | 20 |
| Performance Histories | DRAM23125 | 20 |
| Personal Welfare Services | SPOL20053 | 20 |
| Political Systems of Modern Europe | MODL20008 | 20 |
| Politics and Society in Contemporary Britain (Level I Lecture Response) | HIST25007 | 20 |
| Popular Performance: Cabaret, Music Hall, Musicals and Revue | DRAM23124 | 20 |
| Principles of Quantitative Social Science | SPAI20013 | 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 | ||
| Religious and Cultural Change in India: from Indus to Islam | THRS20101 | 20 |
| Rethinking History | HIST23101 | 20 |
| Russian Orthodox Culture | RUSS20044 | 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 | ||
| Sculpture and the Body (Level I Lecture Response Unit) | HART20026 | 20 |
| Sixties America and its Aftermath (Level I Lecture Response Unit) | HIST20052 | 20 |
| Slavery and the Modern World (Level I Lecture Response) | HIST25003 | 20 |
| Social Policy and The Lifecourse | SPOL22031 | 20 |
| Social Policy and the European Union | SPOL20051 | 20 |
| Social Research Methods | SOAD20004 | 20 |
| Spanish for Specific Purposes Level 2 Grade 1 | LANG21025 | 20 |
| Spanish for Specific Purposes Level 2 Grade 2 | LANG22025 | 20 |
| Spotlights on Anglo-German Relations: Literature, Media, Film | GERM20031 | 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 Archaeology and Topography of Ancient Greece | ARCH20021 | 20 |
| The Archaeology and Topography of Ancient Rome | ARCH20024 | 20 |
| The Camera Eye: Inter-war Photographic Culture (Level I Lecture Response Unit) | HART25000 | 20 |
| The Early Reformation (Level I Lecture Response) | HIST25009 | 20 |
| The Great Outdoors (Level I Lecture Response Unit) | HIST20080 | 20 |
| The Religious World of Dante | THRS20090 | 20 |
| The South African War (Level I Lecture Response Unit) | HIST20023 | 20 |
| The Struggle for Russia: 19th-century Debates on Self and Society | RUSS20012 | 20 |
| The Thought of John Calvin | THRS20197 | 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 Public Policy | SPOL20054 | 20 |
| Understanding Urban Society | SPOL20023 | 20 |
| Utopia (Level I Lecture Response Unit) | HIST20075 | 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 and Society | HIST20035 | 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 |
| ‘Hedgehogs and Foxes’: The Nineteenth-Century Russian Novel 2019 | RUSS20013 | 20 |
