Website: http://www.unbc.ca/international-studies

Our world is rapidly globalizing, bringing exciting opportunities and daunting challenges. Global and International Studies, hereafter referred to as Global Studies, seeks to tackle this brave new world in all its complexity. We train students to be global citizens, global thinkers, and global problem-solvers, and prepare them for global careers in academia, business, government, and the non-profit sector, among others. A unique feature of our program is that we train students in foreign languages. Language is the entry-point for understanding the world’s cultures and equips students for studying and working abroad.

Global Studies is a holistic and timely field of study whose scope is the whole Earth and whose eyes are on the future, aiding a global transformation toward healthy, just, peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable societies for all. The focus of our program is on the ‘big picture,’ international to global. Using multi-disciplinary, multi-perspective, local-to-global, and critical ways of thinking, students emerge from our program with knowledge of the macro-level structures, actors, processes, ideas, issues, and events shaping our planet and its societies.

The curriculum is organized around four themes:

• Global environment and sustainability
• Global cultures and diversity
• Global governance and social justice
• Global political economy and development.

Students take courses in each theme, learn to integrate across themes, and can focus on one or more themes if they so choose. Special attention is given to British Columbia’s immediate international neighbouring regions: Asia-Pacific, Circumpolar North, and the Americas.

The Global and International Studies major requires 63 credit hours of Global and International Studies coursework of which 21 credit hours are at the lower-division, 30 credit hours are at the upper-division, and 12 credit hours are in foreign language study.

The minimum requirement for completion of a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Global and International Studies is 120 credit hours.

Program Requirements

Lower Division Requirement

100 and 200 Level

Non-INTS Upper Division Courses (12 credit hours)
Students must take four courses (12 credit hours) from the list of courses below. The courses are organized by Global Studies theme; however, students are not required to take a course in each theme. They are free to take any four courses of their choosing from this list.

Note: Some of these courses have prerequisites that are not met by INTS lower-division required courses. Students must ensure that all prerequisites are fulfilled prior to registering in any course.

Global environment and sustainability theme

ANTH 312-3		Human Adaptability and Environmental Stress
ANTH 413-(3-6)		Environmental Anthropology
ECON 305-3		Environmental Economics and Environmental Policy
ECON 425-3		Trade and the Environment
ENVS 306-3		Human Ecology
ENVS 309-3		Gender and Environment
ENVS 414-3		Environmental and Professional Ethics
FNST 304-3		Indigenous Environmental Philosophy
GEOG 305-3		Political Ecology: Environmental Knowledge and Decision-Making
GEOG 307-3		Changing Arctic: Human and Environmental Systems
GEOG 401-3		Tenure, Conflict and Resource Geography
GEOG 420-3		Environmental Justice
HIST 360-3		An introduction to Environmental History
NORS 311-3		Lands and Environments of the Circumpolar North 1
NORS 312-3		Lands and Environments of the Circumpolar North 2
NREM 303-3		Aboriginal Perspectives on Land and Resource Management
NREM 306-3		Society, Policy and Administration
ORTM 403-3		International Dimensions of Recreation and Tourism
POLS 344-3		Society, Policy and Administration of Natural Resources

Global cultures and diversity theme
 

ANTH 305-3		Circumpolar Ethnography
ANTH 404-3		Comparative Study of Indigenous Peoples of the World
ANTH 414-3		Religion, Ideology, and Belief Systems
ENGL 350-3		Comparative Literature
ENGL 493-(3-6)		Cultural Studies
FNST 303-3		First Nations Religion and Philosophy
FNST 416-3		International Perspective
GEOG 301-3		Cultural Geography
GEOG 403-3		First Nations and Indigenous Geographies
GEOG 426-3		Geographies of Culture, Rights and Power
HIST 390-3		History of Indigenous People of Canada
NORS 321-3		Peoples and Cultures of the Circumpolar World 1
NORS 322-3		Peoples and Cultures of the Circumpolar World 2
ORTM 306-3		Indigenous Tourism and Recreation
POLS 412-3		Comparative Aboriginal State Relations

Global governance and social justice theme
 

ANTH 406-3		Feminist Perspectives in Anthropology
ANTH 410-3		Theory of Nation and State
ANTH 420-3		Races, Racism, and Human Biology
ECON 301-3		Women and the Economy
ENGL 340-3		Postcolonial Literature
ENGL 410-3		Contemporary Women's Literature
ENGL 440-3		Special Topics in Postcolonial Literature I
FNST 306-3		Indigenous Women: Perspectives
HIST 311-3		History of Feminism
HIST 312-3		An Introduction to the History of Gender
HIST 335-3		Global History of Public Health
NORS 331-3		Contemporary Issues of the Circumpolar North 1
NORS 332-3		Contemporary Issues of the Circumpolar North 2
POLS 303-3		Democracy and Democratization
POLS 309-3		Politics and Society in China
POLS 370-3		Political Philosophy: Early Modernity to Post-Modernity
POLS 372-3		Theories of Justice
POLS 405-3		Topics in Society and Democracy
POLS 413-3		Democracy and Diversity
POLS 414-3		Comparative Federalism
POLS 427-3		Ethics and Public Affairs
WMST 302-3		Women and the Contemporary World
WMST 306-3		Indigenous Women: Perspectives
WMST 311-3		History of Feminism
WMST 312-3		An Introduction to the History of Gender

Global political economy and development theme
 

COMM 303-3		Introduction to International Business
COMM 432-3		Cross-cultural Workplace Practices
COMM 441-3		International Marketing
ECON 308-3		International Economic Relations
ECON 321-3		Economics of Developing Countries
ECON 404-3		Poverty, Inequality and Development
GEOG 306-3		Critical Development Geographies
POLS 415-3		Comparative Northern Development

Elective and Academic Breadth Requirement

Electives at any level in any subject sufficient to ensure completion of a minimum of 120 credit hours, including any additional credits necessary to meet the Academic Breadth requirement of the University.
(see Academic Regulation 15)

Nine additional credit hours of upper division Global and International Studies (INTS) courses.

Six additional credit hours of 400-level Political Science (POLS) courses.

Six additional credit hours of 300- or 400-level Global and International Studies (INTS) or Political Science (POLS) courses.

Language and Regional Studies Requirement

One of the following:

Twelve credit hours of Global and International Studies (INTS) language courses. At least 6 credit hours must be in one language

Elective and Academic Breadth Requirement

Electives at any level in any subject sufficient to ensure completion of a minimum of 120 credit hours, including any additional credits necessary to meet the Academic Breadth requirement of the University (see Academic Regulation 15).

Students must complete a total of 18 credit hours of Global and International Studies course work, of which 6 credit  hours are INTS 100-3 and INTS 210-3.

Students must complete: