Degree Programs and Certificates

POLITICAL SCIENCE UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS

We offer three majors, two minors, and three certificates!

NOTE: 

The 200-level POL S course requirements for the BA, BA Honors, BA Combined Honors, and minor have changed effective Fall 2021.

  • If you declare POL S as your major or minor on or after Fall 2021 – whether or not you were already a student at the U of A -- you will be following the Calendar requirements for the year you made the change.
  • If you declared POL S as your major or minor in 2020-2021 or before, you will be following the Calendar requirements for that year.

Beartracks tells you what year’s Calendar applies to your major, minor, and certificates.  Always follow the requirements in the correct Calendar.

  • Bachelor of Arts (BA) - Major in Political Science
    This degree program allows students to specialize in Political Science while receiving a diverse liberal arts education.
  • Bachelor of Arts (BA) - Honors in Political Science
    This degree program demands a higher level of academic performance and provides for greater specialization in Political Science than in the BA program; you will write an independent research project, the Honors essay.
  • Bachelor of Arts (BA) - Combined Honors in Political Science
  • This degree program allows students to specialize intensively in and integrate two Arts disciplines. You will write an Honors essay that is co-supervised by a professor in each department.
  • Minor (BA) in Political Science
    This program allows students to specialize in Political Science while majoring in an Arts, Science, or Business discipline.
  • Minor (BA) in International Studies
    This interdisciplinary minor enables students to examine the processes by which international forces of many sorts (political, economic, cultural, social) influence the lives people lead and the choices they face.  The minor may be done along with a major in Arts, Science, or Business.

POLITICAL SCIENCE UNDERGRADUATE CERTIFICATES

The Department offers three certificates that can be earned along with an undergraduate degree.

Each certificate is complementary to studies in Political Science as well as other undergraduate degrees, and each will reflect that you have focused, applicable knowledge in a significant area of political or interdisciplinary phenomena.  

Contact the certificate’s advisor – listed below – if you have questions about requirements, applicable courses, or reasons to earn the certificate.

NOTE:

Certificate requirements sometimes change -- always follow the requirements the Calendar year in which you declare the certificate you are pursuing.  You can check the year on Beartracks.


To change your Major or Minor or declare a Certificate, use the relevant form in the Faculty of Arts Forms Cabinet. The FAQs page has lots of answers, too.

 

For assistance contact:

Nancy Thompson
Undergraduate Advisor
pscundgr@ualberta.ca