Registering for an Open Unit 2014/15
ACTION REQUIRED NOW!
DEADLINE: 9am, Monday 8th September
The Open Units Scheme allows undergraduate students the opportunity to undertake a number of
credit points in an area outside their main degree subject. Single Honours SPAIS students must choose
40 credit points worth of Open Units in their first year of study.
An ‘open unit’ is a unit that is outside of the student’s subject discipline and any student can take (i.e.
not have any pre- or co-requisites), subject to space and timetabling constraints.
A complete list of Open Units can be found here:
www.bris.ac.uk/esu/unitprogcat
However, SPAIS recommends that you take an Open Unit either within the school (i.e. if you are a
Politics student then take a Sociology unit and vice versa), or a unit within the Faculty of Social
Sciences and Law.
Please note:
 You must pass these units to progress to your next year of study, so pick a unit that interests
you.
 You must balance your Open Unit choices between TB1 and TB2 (20 Open Unit credits in
each), or a TB4 unit (which is taught across BOTH teaching blocks). However, please note
that usually, this will still be only 20 credits even if taught over the whole academic year and
you will still need a second open unit. This will also mean that your workload is imbalanced
over the year.
 We strongly encourage you to pick a unit within the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law.
 It is your responsibility to ensure you are registered for, and pass, the open units in order to
complete 120 credits.
How do I register for an Open Unit?
You must let us know your choice by filling in the Google form. A link to it can be found here:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/spais/newstudents
When can I do this?
The survey will opens:
9am, Monday, 1st September
The survey closes:
9am, Monday, 8th September
Note: we aim to get students onto the units of their choice, however this may not be possible due to
limited spaces on units and timetabling constraints.
If you do not fill in the survey you may be randomly allocated to a unit where there is availability.
LANGUAGES:
If you wish to take an open unit in Applied Foreign Languages (AFL), you should firstly fill in the SPAIS
google survey AND complete the online unit registration form for languages found at:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/sml/undergraduates/options/afl/yearone.html
Further info:
Mandatory Units
These are core units that students on a particular programme must take in order to be eligible for
that particular award.
Optional Units
An optional unit is part of a suite of units that are offered to students on specific programme(s).
These options are closely related to the core discipline of a programme and often assume some prior
knowledge of the subject area. They are not widely available to students from other disciplines.
Some programmes allow students to exchange an optional unit for an open unit but you will be
advised by your home department if this is allowed.
Open Units
Students registered to some single honours programmes have space in year one to allow them to
take an open unit and, provided it can be timetabled, they have a free choice of which open unit
they take. Open units are designed to allow a student to broaden their degree and do not require
any prior knowledge of the subject. An open unit can be taken by any student from across the whole
university where their programme of study allows. However, students should be aware that they are
required to fulfil all of the Intended Learning Outcomes of the open unit they choose.
Choosing an open unit
Some programmes of study allow first year students to select open units. Your programme
specification and information sent from your school will indicate if this is the case for you. An ‘open
unit’ is a unit that is outside of the student’s subject discipline and is available to any student from
across the institution. Open unit choices are subject to space, timetabling and staffing constraints.
Credit points
Most open units are 20 or 10 credit points (CPs). 10 credit points means that a student is expected to
undertake 100 learning hours in order to complete the unit. 20 credit points means a student should
give 200 hours to the unit. One full-time year of your degree is worth 120 credits and generally you
should expect to undertake 60 credit points or 600 learning hours per teaching block.
Teaching Block
The academic year is divided into two teaching blocks each comprising 12 teaching weeks. Some
units will be delivered in teaching block 1 (TB1), some in teaching block 2 (TB2) and some in teaching
block 4 (TB4) which means they run across both teaching blocks. In between TB1 and TB2 is the
January exam period. TB2 2 ends with the summer exam period.
Students eligible to take 40 credit points of open units are encouraged to take one in TB1 and one in
TB2. Some open units are worth 40 cps and these usually run in TB4 i.e. across the whole year.
Levels of study
Students are advised to select only units at Level 4 (Certificate) in their first year.
Please read all of the above, but if you still have questions, email us here:
spais-ug@bristol.ac.uk