Information for Students

Please contact OME@tcd.ie and put in 'Trinity Electives - Academic Year 202X/2Y' (insert the relevant academic year) in the subject line, if you have any difficulty with the selection process.

Trinity Electives are 5 ECTS credit standalone modules available to the majority of students to add breadth to their undergraduate curriculum, They tend to be interdisciplinary in their design and they link to the University's research themes, cover key societal challenges or focus on languages and cultures.

Trinity electives should not be confused with Open Modules, which also add breadth to a student's studies but often in areas that are related or complementary to their home programme. For more details on Open Modules see Trinity Open Modules.

Trinity Electives are delivered during the following hours. Module co-ordinators may use some or all of these hours each week in the delivery of their Trinity Elective.

• Tuesday: 9-10am & 10-11am
• Thursday: 4-5pm & 5-6pm
• Friday: 9-10am

The Semester 1 Timetable is available here.

The Semester 2 Timetable is available here.

Please note that this is subject to change.

Enrollment in Trinity Electives is on a first come, first served basis. You will go to my.tcd.ie and select the menu option 'My Programme' to choose your Trinity Elective. The process is outlined in a Quick Guide on the Online Module Enrolment Website. 

Academic Registry will also notify all students by email with more information on the deadlines for online enrolment, nearer the time for selection.

Most students, including those off-books or have to repeat or take deferred assessments in August/September, will apply in the last week of July - until the first week of August.

Visiting students for Semester 1 will enroll the second week of September.

Academic Registry will notify students directly by email with exact deadlines. Note that you will choose your Trinity Electives for the whole year (Semester 1 and 2) at the same time.

Students who have taken reassessment exams will receive an invitation to select modules in the my.tcd.ie portal at the same time as other students. Your module choices will be provisional until a pass grade has been confirmed in your reassessment exams.

Students returning from a period off books will receive an invitation to select their modules in the my.tcd.ie portal at the same time as other students.

Enrolment in Trinity Electives for all students will be through the 'My Programme' link in my.tcd.ie from the last week of July to the first weke of August. The process for enrolment is outlined on the Online Module Enrolment Webpage.

The semester in which the Trinity Electives run is listed on the Trinity Electives overview page. Also the last number in the Trinity Elective module code denotes the semester. For example, TEU00501, runs in semester 1, and TEU00502, runs in semester 2.

Not all Trinity electives will be available - only those that appear in the selection screens at my.tcd.ie.

Once you confirm your Trinity Elective Module selection via Online Module enrolment you will receive an intray message confirmation of your Trinity Elective Module Enrolments.

Most Trinity Electives are available to any student to take. However, there are some exceptions. For example native speakers or students from certain Business and Language degrees, cannot take a Language and Culture elective in that language. Please check the section on 'Who can take this elective?' on each Trinity Elective information page.

Change of mind can be facilitated until the end of the Online Module Enrolment process.

The student needs to submit a request to change modules via the Online Module Enrolment (OME) process and this request is processed by the respective School that owns the elective.

If you are experiencing difficulties with your chosen elective, please contact the module coordinator and/or your Tutor.

There is a variety of innovative assessment methods used across the Trinity Electives. You should look at the webpage of each Elective for details on which assessment methods will be used.

No, you can only take one Trinity Elective per semester.

Your programme determines whether or not you are eligible to take Trinity Electives and, if you are, the number you may take. For some programmes it is compulsory - e.g. Engineering 2nd year and 3rd year students must take one Trinity Elective each year. For other programmes it depends on what pathway options you are offered. Please check your handbook, or with your programme coordinator if you are not sure what applied to you.

For the majority of students eligible to take Trinity Electives, a maximum of two may be taken during the course of their programme. Only one can be taken per semester, if two are taken in the same programme year.

Trinity Electives are taken in the 2nd and/or 3rd years. It will depend on which programme of study you are talking as to exactly when you take your Trinity Elective. Please check your handbook, or with your programme coordinator for more information for your programme.

Your programme will determine whether Trinity Electives are taken in your 2nd and/or 3rd year. 

For some programmes Trinity Electives are a compulsory part of undergraduate education programmes, but in other programmes breadth is not feasible due to accrediting professional bodies requirements for the programme.

In the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, depending on the pathway available to you, you may opt to take one or two Trinity Electives. Students in the Health sciences do not generally take Trinity Electives (except for Human Health and Disease, where students take two Trinity Electives in their 2nd year).

There are changes to the Trinity Electives offering on an annual basis. New Trinity Electives come on stream every year from across the University. Similarly, due to staffing changes, some Trinity Electives might be suspended or ceased for the coming academic year.

The results of any Trinity Elective taken in your third year will count towards your overall degree award. The electives will be treated the same wat as any of the core mandatory modules or optional modules that you take in your third year. To detail, your degree will be calculated based on your final two years' results, normally weighted at 30% and 70% respectively.

Depending on your programme of study, visiting students may take up to two Trinity Electives, one per semester. The application process for visiting students for semester 1, opens in September, and semester 2, will open in January, and will open for a week. The Academic Registry office will be in touch with you with the detailed deadlines when relevant. If you have any questions, please contact OME@tcd.ie.