Open Languages
We offer a variety of language courses for the University of Edinburgh matriculated students
Open Language courses are free 20 credit language courses opened to all matriculated students of the University of Edinburgh, in undergraduate or postgraduate studies.
Courses are semester long, with 2 sessions of 2 hours each week over 11 weeks.
In the 2023-2024 academic year, we are offering the following courses.
Semester 1:
BSL stage 1 – option A (Monday and Wednesday) – 14:10 - 16:00*
BSL stage 1 – option B (Tuesday and Thursday) – 14:10 - 16:00*
Gaelic stage 1 - Monday and Wednesday - 14:10 - 16:00
Swahili stage 1 - Monday and Wednesday - 14:10 - 16:00
Ukrainian stage 1 - Monday and Wednesday - 14:10 - 16:00
*Students need to sign up for one of the class options via Learn
Semester 2:
BSL stage 2 Monday and Wednesday - 14:10 - 16:00*
Gaelic stage 2 - Monday and Wednesday - 14:10 - 16:00
Swahili stage 2 - Monday and Wednesday - 14:10 - 16:00
Ukrainian stage 2 - Monday and Wednesday - 14:10 - 16:00
The school of Literatures Languages and Cultures offers other Open Language courses, you will find information on the courses available on the LLC web pages:
School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
Stage 1 courses are for complete beginners and allow students to achieve the equivalent of A1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)
Stage 2 courses are suitable for students who have complete stage 1 or have achieved the equivalent of an A1 level of the CEFR. Stage 2 will allow students to achieve the first half of A2 level of the CEFR
Please contact the School in which your degree programme is based to make sure that you can take the credits as part of your degree programme, and to register to an Open Language course.
If you have any prior knowledge of the language and need assistance in assessing your level, or for any information on these courses, please contact:
British Sign Language | languagesforall-BSL@ed.ac.uk
Gaelic | languagesforall-gaelic@ed.ac.uk
Swahili | languagesforall-swahili@ed.ac.uk
Ukrainian | languagesforall-ukrainian@ed.ac.uk