The department offers a balanced and complete undergraduate degree, including a three and four-year major and minor. A three-year major is required to take at least 30 credit hours of study, while a four-year major needs to have 48 hours in political science to graduate, including at least 9 credits of courses at the 300 or 400 level. A three year minor requires a minimum of 18 credit hours of study, while a four-year minor consist of 24 credits. Students should consult the Political Science entry in the  Undergraduate Calendar for details of the requirements and offerings at all levels to complement the comments that follow. Of particular importance is the fact that four-year majors need to receive a minimum GPA of 3.0 in order to graduate with an honours degree. In addition to all regular courses, four year majors may request to take 499, a three-credit course of independent study called Topic, Which involves writing a mini-thesis or major research paper. If approved by the chair and the Dean, they will be assigned a supervisor under whom the research may be conducted.

All students are required to take 172 Fundamentals of Politics (three credit hours) as a basic entry to the discipline. They may not normally take any other courses until they have completed this prerequisite.

Our program is divided up into sub-fields of study that include Canadian, Comparative, International, and Theory. All our majors need to take at least one course each of these sub-fields so as to ensure that they have a good general background in various aspects of the discipline. Minors are required to take at least one course in three of the sub-fields. The remaining credits are optional to ensure that students can follow their respective interests.

Study Programs

Our Department offers 4-year (Honours) major, 4-year (general) major, 4-year minor, 3-year major and 3-year minor. Some of our courses contribute towards degrees in Canadian studies, rural studies, women’s studies and general studies, and towards a diploma in judicial administration