Semester in Edinburgh at Edinburgh Napier University offers courses in 3 faculties: Health, Life, and Social Sciences; Engineering, Computing, and Creative Industries; and the Business School. These courses are open to all students, including study abroad students. The academic year is divided into 2 semesters, autumn and spring, and you will receive about 15–16 US credits per semester.
GPA Required: 2.5. If you find your GPA is lower than the requirement, do not despair! Use the "Contact An Advisor" button on this page or call us to let us know your situation. We'll do all we can to find the right program for you.
How to choose your courses: Now the fun part! As part of the application process you will be required to complete the CISabroad Course Selection Worksheet found in the CISabroad Application Page. The following instructions will guide you through the steps of choosing your courses. Keep in mind that what we call classes, the Scottish call “modules.”
Course load: 3 modules, aka classes (15–16 US credits)
Course approval: It is best to get 7–8 courses approved before you go abroad. This gives you some flexibility in setting up your class schedule. Think about courses required for your major, but also courses that fulfill your elective requirements.
Course descriptions and catalog: Please click here to view available courses. From here, you can search A–Z or check out the sidebar on the right and search by Faculty, School, or Subject.
Timetables: Information is available on the module listing.
How to read the Edinburgh Napier University course catalog
Edinburgh Napier University calls its course catalog a “module guide.” There are 4 levels of study at Edinburgh Napier. Module levels are equivalent to the year of study. When choosing your courses keep the following in mind:
SCQF 7 = First Year (Freshman)
SCQF 8 = Second Year (Sophomore)
SCQF 9 = Third Year (Junior)
SCQF 10 = Fourth Year (Senior)
SCQF 11 = Graduate Level (Not available to Study Abroad bachelors students)
Important note if you are interested in the Music or Film and Creative Arts programs:
The University offers only a few spaces in the Music and Film and Creative Ars programs to study abroad students. You must be a major in these programs at your home university and take all of your coursework in the programs (i.e., you can’t take any gen eds). You’ll also need to submit a portfolio of your work with your application. For select Music courses, you may be required to submit a CD of performances. Musical instrument courses may have additional instruction costs. Please contact us if you have any questions about requirements for entry into these programs.
IMPORTANT: Edinburgh Napier University has three different Faculties and each Faculty has a different way of approving course selection. It’s important that you read the following information before you start to choose your courses:
Every visiting student that studies at Edinburgh Napier is assigned an academic member of staff from one of the University’s three Faculties. The three Faculties are "Business," "Health and Social Sciences," and "Engineering, Computer Science, and Creative Industries." Although courses (called "modules") are available to students from any and all three of these Faculties, they work differently with students and their course requests.
The Business Faculty (located in the Craiglockhart Campus) and Health & Social Science Faculty (located in the Sighthill Campus) does not pre-approve your module choices or register you for your modules ahead of time. This means that you will be registering for your modules in these Faculties during your orientation at Edinburgh Napier University, and will need to be flexible enough with your module needs to register for modules upon arrival. However, these Faculties typically have a lot of modules available for study abroad students, and you will be registering very early in the semester, so getting the modules you would like to take should not be a problem.
The Faculty of Engineering, Computer Science, and Creative Industries is located in the Merchiston Campus, and they do pre-approve and register students for modules ahead of time. This means that if you choose to study modules offered by this Faculty, you will be contacted by Faculty members and your modules will be confirmed before you arrive.
Students can choose modules from across the three Faculties (you're not kept to only the one of your major, say), but you will be assigned a Personal Development Tutor (PDT) and attend the Academic Induction offered by one Faculty at the start of the year. If you are taking modules from within all different Faculties, you will be assigned to the Faculty that corresponds to your home school major.
For all visiting students, course selection cannot be confirmed prior to the first week of each semester when the module timetable is confirmed.