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 | ||
Big Ideas in Science | CHEM10001 | 20 |
Biology 1A: Diversity of Life | BIOL11000 | 40 |
Biology 1B: Life Processes | BIOL12000 | 40 |
Biophysics and Molecular Life Sciences I | BIOCM0008 | 20 |
Biophysics and Molecular Life Sciences II | BIOCM0009 | 20 |
Brazilian Portuguese Level 2 Grade 2 | LANG20003 | 20 |
Brazilian Portuguese Level 2 Grade 2 | LANG20004 | 20 |
Brazilian Portuguese for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 1 | LANG10005 | 20 |
British Prehistory | ARCH12011 | 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 | ||
Death, Doctors and Disease (Level H Lecture Response Unit) | HIST30025 | 20 |
Developmental and Cellular Physiology of the Specialised Cell | PHPH20010 | 20 |
Dissertation | BIOCM0005 | 60 |
Documentary Histories and Practices | DRAM23135 | 20 |
Doing Social Research | SOCI10005 | 20 |
Dostoevsky | RUSS30063 | 20 |
Drugs and Society | SPOL30011 | 20 |
Drugs and Society | SPOL21011 | 20 |
Dynamics of Networks | EMATM0008 | 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 | ||
Education and Society | SPOL30028 | 20 |
Education and Society | SPOL20020 | 20 |
Education, Schooling and Diversity | SPOL10015 | 20 |
Engineering Physics | EMAT10005 | 20 |
English for Academic Purposes - Part 1 (Science and Engineering) | LANG10002 | 10 |
English for Academic Purposes - Part 2 (Science and Engineering) | LANG10003 | 10 |
Environment Earth | EASC10004 | 20 |
Environmental Geoscience 1 | EASC10002 | 40 |
Environmental Imperialism (Level I Lecture Response Unit) | HIST20048 | 20 |
European Crime Fiction | MODL30014 | 20 |
European Foreign Policy | SPAI30022 | 20 |
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 | ||
Film Criticism | DRAM33128 | 20 |
Film and TV Comedy | DRAM23122 | 20 |
Film and Television Histories | DRAM23123 | 20 |
Food: a Global History (Level H Lecture Response Unit) | HIST30027 | 20 |
French for Business | FREN30095 | 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 |
Genocide in the Twentieth Century and Beyond (Level H Lecture Response Unit) | HIST30028 | 20 |
Geology 1 | EASC10001 | 40 |
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 |
Ghosts, Death and the Afterlife | THRS20167 | 20 |
Ghosts, Death and the Afterlife | THRS11055 | 20 |
Global Cinemas / Local Stories | DRAM33131 | 20 |
Global Cities (Level H Lecture Response Unit) | HIST30034 | 20 |
Globalisation and Development | ECON10053 | 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 | ||
Hard Labour? The History of Work (Level H Lecture Response Unit) | HIST30030 | 20 |
Health Policy in a Global Context | SPOL30055 | 20 |
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 |
Holocaust Landscapes (Level H Lecture Response) | HIST39009 | 20 |
Homeric Society | CLAS22343 | 20 |
Homeric Society | CLAS12343 | 20 |
Human Rights in History (Level H Lecture Response Unit) | HIST30035 | 20 |
Human Rights in Law, Politics and Society | LAWDM0089 | 30 |
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 Intermediate | LANG31046 | 20 |
Japanese for General Purposes Pre-Intermediate | LANG21046 | 20 |
Jesus in an Age of Colonialism | THRS30068 | 20 |
Jewish Experience in Modern European History (Level I Lecture Response Unit) | HIST20044 | 20 |
Journeying: Discovering the World, Creating Ourselves | GEOG16002 | 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 | ||
Key Social Thinkers | SOCI10006 | 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 (Advanced) | MODL10014 | 40 |
Language for General Purposes (Ab-initio Mandarin Chinese) | LANG11047 | 20 |
Language for General Purposes - French Level 1, Grade 1 | LANG11042 | 20 |
Language, Culture, and Society | ARCH20045 | 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 | ||
Neurophysiology | PHPH20009 | 20 |
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 | ||
Realism (Level H Lecture Response Unit) | HART30044 | 20 |
Religious and Cultural Change in India: from Indus to Islam | THRS20101 | 20 |
Religious and Cultural Change in India: from Indus to Islam | THRS10033 | 20 |
Researching Child and Family Welfare | SPOLM0011 | 20 |
Researching Health and Social Care | SPOLM5004 | 20 |
Rethinking History | HIST23101 | 20 |
Romano-British Archaeology | ARCH10009 | 20 |
Russian Orthodox Culture | RUSS20044 | 20 |
Russian for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 1 | LANG10006 | 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 | SPOL30023 | 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 |
Well-being and Society | ARCH10008 | 20 |
World in Crisis? | GEOG16001 | 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 |