Academic Programming

International Winter Program

The International Winter Program provides three weeks’ curriculum content in three theme areas: Canadian Studies, Intercultural Communication and Graduate Research. There will be both lectures and site visits.

  • Canadian Studies: A series of lectures will be included in this module to help students understand Canada as a country, including its population, geography, economy and culture. Students will be encouraged to engage in comparative studies with their home countries. Site visits will be organized to the Provincial government of Alberta and the Municipal government of Edmonton.  

  • Intercultural Learning: This module will engage students in intercultural learning with a series of seminars on important topics, such as broad cultural categories, small culture observations, intercultural identity development and global competence & leadership. The goal is to enhance students’ complex understanding of cross-cultural issues and improve their cross-cultural competencies. 
  • Graduate Research: This module aims to expose participating students to the diverse research projects conducted by graduate students in diverse disciplines, from Science to Humanities, from Medicine to Engineering, at the University of Alberta. The goal is to inspire students’ research interests and aspirations for graduate studies. In addition to research presentations, research lab visits will be organized. 

International Summer Program

The International Summer Program provides four weeks’ curriculum content in four theme areas: Canadian Studies, Intercultural Communication, Graduate Research and Community Engagement. There will be both lectures and site visits. 

  • Canadian Studies: A series of lectures will be included in this module to help students understand Canada as a country, including its population, geography, economy and culture. Students will be encouraged to engage in comparative studies with their home countries. Site visits will be organized to the Provincial government of Alberta and the Municipal government of Edmonton.  

  • Intercultural Learning: This module will engage students in intercultural learning with a series of seminars on important topics, such as broad cultural categories, small culture observations, intercultural identity development and global competence & leadership. The goal is to enhance students’ complex understanding of cross-cultural issues and improve their cross-cultural competencies. 
  • Graduate Research: This module aims to expose participating students to the diverse research projects conducted by graduate students in diverse disciplines, from Science to Humanities, from Medicine to Engineering, at the University of Alberta. The goal is to inspire students’ research interests and aspirations for graduate studies. In addition to research presentations, research lab visits will be organized. 
  • Community Engagement: An important Canadian value is being involved in one's community. Community engagement is about people working collaboratively towards a common future, drawing strength from each other and from the diversity of their perspectives. This module will engage students in examining some of the issues related to volunteerism, running nonprofit organizations, and participating in some volunteering activities in the city of Edmonton.

Academic Credit Transfer Information

The academic program will consist of a minimum of 39 contact hours for the winter program and 52 contact hours for the summer program. Participants are not awarded credit at the University of Alberta and will not receive an academic transcript. A certificate of participation will be presented to each participant, including a letter of participation confirming actual contact hours. Credit transfer is up to the discretion of each participant's home institution.