What a unit is

Units are the building blocks for all taught courses. A unit is part of a course and has its own learning outcomes, syllabus and assessment scheme. We assign units to a level of study and they are usually credit bearing. A unit may be mandatory or optional and must be capable of being separately assessed. A unit may consist of one or more elements.

• Mandatory unit: a core unit on a course which you must study.
• Optional unit: a unit you choose from a specified list of units available on a particular course.
• Prerequisite unit: a unit you must pass before you can do another, usually more advanced, unit.

What an open unit is

An open unit is available to students on some single honours courses. There is a free choice on which open units you can select if it doesn't clash with your core course units. You can select open units in subjects that are not related to your main subject of study. Generally, open units have no pre-requisites.

Open units allow you to broaden your education outside of your specific specialism.

Find out if you can take an open unit

If the selection of open units is available on your course, we will list this in the programme structure. You will receive guidance on the selection process from your school office.

The availability of an open unit is not always guaranteed. Choices are subject to the number of places and timetabling to fit with your programme.

Levels of study

As a first-year student, you should only opt for units that are set at level 4 in the unit information.

Pre-requisites

We teach open units at university level. Most do not require any prior knowledge of the subject. Some may assume a certain level of previous experience.

You should consider whether you have enough knowledge to meet the course needs. If you are not sure, check either the unit information or with the school offering the unit.

Credits

We expect you to take 120 credit points per academic year. Each open unit is worth 20 credits. You must check the number of credits of the open units you select to make sure you meet the 120 credit points.

Different courses have different numbers of credits available for open units. Some offer open units that spread over two years or two teaching blocks. It is important to check the information your school sends you. You can see how many open unit credit points you can take, and how you can spread them out.

Allocation of open units

Your school will ask you for your open unit choices as part of optional unit choice process. We base allocation to an open unit on your order of preference, not the time you submit your choices.

We try to accommodate your choices, but cannot always give you a place on your first choice. You can select more units than you need to take. This may be because too many people have chosen it as their first choice. The extra unit(s) will become back-up options if we cannot give you your first choice.

If you are swapping an optional unit for an open unit without a back-up, you will revert back to the optional unit.

If you select an open unit that clashes with other units on your timetable we will not be able to give you a place.

Change open unit groups

We use Wednesday afternoons for some teaching on open units.

If you are part of a university sports club and this causes a clash with your open unit, you may request to move groups.

You can refer to the open unit timetable to see whether there is another group to move to. To ask to move groups, contact the school that owns the unit.

Transfer open units

You may wish to transfer to a different open unit. 

Use the Bristol Futures open units timetable 2023/24 (PDF, 107kB) to make sure the unit fits with your core timetable. Contact your school to request the change.