Flexible study options with over 140 subjects to choose from
For your bachelor’s degree, you’ll need to choose a major subject. This is what you’ll specialise in. With most degrees, you can optionally add a minor subject (which is like a mini specialisation), and a mix of papers from other subjects.
This page lists all the subjects you can take as part of a bachelor’s degree. When you select a subject below, you’ll be taken to a page with information about:
- Which qualifications are available for that subject
- Which papers are available for that subject
- Employability and career options
Do you already have a degree?
List of major and minor subjects, and endorsements
| Subject | Major | Minor | Endorsement | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accounting (ACCT) | Y | Y | N | |
| Agricultural Innovation (AGRI) | Y | Y | N | |
| Anatomy (ANAT) | Y | Y | N | |
| Anthropology (ANTH) | Y | Y | N | |
| Applied Geology (APGE) | Y | Y | N | |
| Aquaculture and Fisheries (AQFI) | Y | Y | N | |
| Archaeology1 (ARCH) | Y | N | N | |
| Asian Studies (ASIA) | Y | Y | N | |
| Biblical Studies (BIBS; religion; theology) | Y | Y | Y | |
| Biochemistry (BIOC) | Y | Y | N | |
| Bioethics (BITC) | N | Y | Y | |
| Biomedical Sciences | ||||
| Botany (BTNY) | Y | Y | N | |
| Buddhist Studies (BUDH; religion) | N | Y | N | |
| Business Analytics (BUAN; information science) | N | Y | N | |
| Chemistry (CHEM) | Y | Y | N | |
| Chinese (CHIN) | Y | Y | Y | |
| Christian Thought and History (CHTH; religion, theology) | Y | Y | Y | |
| Classical Music (CLMU) | N | Y | N | |
| Classics (CLAS) | Y | Y | N | |
| Communication Studies (COMS) | Y | Y | N | |
| Community Health Care (CMHC) | Y | Y | N | |
| Composition (CPSN; music) | N | N | Y | |
| Computational Modelling (COMO; mathematics; engineering) | Y | Y | N | |
| Computer Science (COSC; engineering) | Y | Y | N | |
| Consumer Food Science (CFSC) | Y | Y | N | |
| Criminology (CRIM) | N | Y | N | |
| Dance (DANC) | N | Y | N | |
| Data Science (DASC) | Y | N | N | |
| Dental Technology (DTEC) | Y | N | N | |
| Dentistry (DENT) | Y | N | N | |
| Drugs and Human Health (DRHH) | Y | N | N | |
| Early Childhood Education (ECED; teaching) | N | N | Y | |
| Ecology (ECOL) | Y | Y | N | |
| Economics (ECON) | Y | Y | N | |
| Education (EDUC) | Y | Y | N | |
| Energy Management (EMAN; engineering) | Y | Y | N | |
| Energy Science and Technology (EMAN; engineering) | Y | N | N | |
| Engineering Intermediate2 | Y | N | N | |
| English (ENGL) | Y | Y | N | |
| English and Linguistics (ENLI) | Y | N | N | |
| Entrepreneurship (ENTR) | Y | Y | N | |
| Environment and Society (ENVI) | N | Y | N | |
| Environmental Management (ENVM) | Y | Y | N | |
| Environmental Toxicology (ENVT) | N | Y | N | |
| Ethnomusicology | N | Y | N | |
| European Studies (EURO) | Y | Y | N | |
| Exercise and Sport Science (EXSS) | Y | Y | N | |
| Film and Media Studies (FIME) | Y | Y | N | |
| Finance (FINC) | Y | Y | N | |
| Food Science (FOSC) | Y | Y | N | |
| Forensic Analytical Science (FORS) | Y | N | N | |
| French (FREN) | Y | Y | Y | |
| Functional Human Biology (FUHB) | Y | N | N | |
| Gender Studies (GEND) | Y | Y | N | |
| Genetics (GENE) | Y | Y | N | |
| Geographic Information Systems (GISS; engineering) | Y | Y | N | |
| Geography (GEOG) | Y | Y | N | |
| Geology (GEOL; engineering) | Y | Y | N | |
| German (GERM) | Y | Y | Y | |
| Global Studies (GLBL) | Y | N | N | |
| Greek (GREK) | N | Y | N | |
| Health Sciences First Year (HSFY) HSFY is the first-year programme for Dentistry, Medical Laboratory Science, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Physiotherapy.3 | Y | N | N | |
| History (HIST) | Y | Y | N | |
| Hospitality (HOSP) | N | Y | N | |
| Human Nutrition (HUNT) | Y | Y | N | |
| Human Resource Management (HURM) | Y | Y | N | |
| Human Services Law (HUSL) | N | Y | N | |
| Indigenous Studies (INDS) | Y | Y | N | |
| Infection and Immunity (INIM) | Y | N | N | |
| Information Science (INFO) | Y | Y | N | |
| International Business (INTB) | Y | Y | N | |
| Irish Studies (IRST) | N | Y | N | |
| Japanese (JAPA) | Y | Y | Y | |
| Land Planning and Development (LDPD) | Y | Y | N | |
| Language and Linguistics (LALI) | Y | N | N | |
| Latin (LATN) | N | Y | N | |
| Law (LAWS) | Y | N | N | |
| Linguistics (LING) | Y | Y | N | |
| Management (MANT) | Y | Y | N | |
| Māori Health (MAOH; Maori Health) | Y | Y | N | |
| Māori Studies (MAOR; Maori Studies) | Y | Y | N | |
| Marine Science (MARI) | Y | Y | N | |
| Marketing (MART) | Y | Y | N | |
| Mathematical Statistics (STAT) | N | Y | N | |
| Mathematics (MATH) | Y | Y | N | |
| Medical Laboratory Science (MELS) | Y | N | N | |
| Medicine (MICN; the Otago medical degree) | Y | N | N | |
| Microbiology (MICR) | Y | Y | N | |
| Molecular Basis of Health and Disease (MBHD) | Y | N | N | |
| Molecular Biotechnology (MOBI) | Y | N | N | |
| Music (MUSI) | Y | Y | N | |
| Music Technology (MUST) | N | Y | N | |
| Neuroscience (NEUR) | Y | Y | N | |
| Nutrition and Metabolism in Human Health (NMHH) | Y | N | N | |
| Nutrition Communication (NUCO) | N | Y | N | |
| Oceanography (OCEN; engineering) | Y | Y | N | |
| Oral Health (DEOH; dental; dentistry) | Y | N | N | |
| Pacific and Global Health (PACH) | Y | Y | N | |
| Pacific Islands Studies (PACI) | Y | Y | N | |
| Pastoral Studies (PAST; theology) | N | Y | Y | |
| Pathology (PATH) | N | Y | N | |
| Performance (Music) (PERF) | N | N | Y | |
| Performing Arts (PERF1; music; theatre) | Y | N | N | |
| Pharmaceutical Science (PSCI) | Y | N | N | |
| Pharmacology (PHAL) | Y | Y | N | |
| Pharmacy (PHCY) | Y | N | N | |
| Philosophy (PHIL) | Y | Y | N | |
| Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PHPE) | Y | N | N | |
| Physical Activity and Health (PAHE; PE) | N | Y | N | |
| Physical Education, Activity and Health (PEAH; PE) | Y | N | N | |
| Physics (PHSI; engineering) | Y | Y | N | |
| Physiology (PHSL) | Y | Y | N | |
| Physiotherapy (PHTY) | Y | N | N | |
| Plant Biotechnology (PLBI) | Y | Y | N | |
| Politics (POLS) | Y | Y | N | |
| Popular Music (POPM) | N | Y | N | |
| Primary Bicultural Education / Te Pōkai Mātauranga o te Ao Rua (PRBE; teaching) | N | N | Y | |
| Primary Education (PRED; teaching) | N | N | Y | |
| Psychology (PSYC) | Y | Y | N | |
| Public Health (PUBH) | Y | Y | N | |
| Radiation Therapy (RADT) | Y | N | N | |
| Religious Studies (RELS) | Y | Y | N | |
| Reproduction, Genetics and Development (REGD) | Y | N | N | |
| Science Communication (SCCM) | N | Y | N | |
| Science of Religion (SREL) | N | Y | N | |
| Social Work (SOWK) | Y | N | N | |
| Sociology (SOCI) | Y | Y | N | |
| Software Engineering (SENG) | Y | Y | N | |
| Spanish (SPAN) | Y | Y | Y | |
| Sport and Exercise Nutrition (SPNU) | Y | Y | N | |
| Sport Development and Management (SPDM) | Y | Y | N | |
| Sports Technology (SPTE) | N | Y | N | |
| Statistics (STAT; mathematics) | Y | Y | N | |
| Studio Production (STPR; music) | N | N | Y | |
| Supplementary Nutritional Science (SUNS; human nutrition) | N | Y | N | |
| Surveying (SURV; engineering) | Y | N | N | |
| Surveying Measurement (SURV) | Y | N | N | |
| Sustainable Business (SUBU) | N | Y | N | |
| Sustainable Finance (SUFI) | N | Y | N | |
| Teaching (EDUC; education) | Y | N | N | |
| Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) (TSOL) | N | Y | N | |
| Telecommunications (TELE; electronics) | N | Y | N | |
| Theatre Studies (THEA) | Y | Y | N | |
| Theology (THEO) | Y | Y | N | |
| Tourism (TOUR) | Y | Y | N | |
| Tourism, Languages and Cultures (TLC) | Y | N | N | |
| Writing (WRIT) | N | Y | N | |
| Zoology (ZOOL) | Y | Y | N |
1 Archaeology is a specialisation within the Anthropology major. If you wish to specialise in Archaeology, you need to major in Anthropology.
2 You can take a first year at Otago to satisfy the Intermediate Year for the University of Canterbury’s Bachelor of Engineering. It is treated like a major subject for enrolment purposes.
3 Health Sciences First Year (HSFY) is treated like a major subject for enrolment purposes, however you cannot complete a three-year Bachelor of Science majoring in HSFY. Instead, after completing your first year, you can transfer to a different major subject for second year and beyond. For example, after HSFY, you might enter second-year Anatomy or Biochemistry or Medicine.
Questions?
Contact AskOtago. We’re open from 7am to 11pm every day, and can help with any questions about application and enrolment, or anything else you want to know about the University.
Please note the following:
- When searching on paper code - do not add a space between the letters and numbers of a paper code. ie "STAT110" not "STAT 110".
- When searching on keywords - matches in the paper title are ranked higher than matches in the prescriptions.
- You can find all papers from a particular subject and particular level by searching for MATH1, for example, which will return all 100-level MATH papers.
Every paper is identified by a subject code (e.g. RELS for Religious Studies) and a paper number. Until 2014, variants of those codes, ending with 'X', were used for distance learning papers (e.g. RELX for distance papers in Religious Studies), but a single code is now normally used for all papers in the same subject, whether they are offered as internal papers or as distance learning papers or as both (so RELS is the code for all Religious Studies papers regardless of teaching mode).
