Rather than self-declaring a major, students in the Interdisciplinary Studies (IDST) program create a coherent, thematically-related program of their own design in addition to their Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree requirements.
Requirements
The IDST program consists of 42 upper-level credits. These courses cannot be taken with Credit/D/Fail grading and students should select courses offered within the Faculty of Arts.
The 42 upper-level credits are divided between
- your primary category, which consists of 30 credits
- 18* credits of which are in your primary focus area; and
- 12* credits of which are in your secondary focus area
- your secondary category, which consists 12 credits
*Students with an average above 75% may apply to modify the credit distribution within their primary category, increasing their primary focus area credit amount up to 24 credits with only 6 credits in their secondary focus area (maintaining the 30 credits in their primary category). Students who wish to appeal for this increase must explain how the additional primary focus area coursework contributes to their overall program without detracting from the interdisciplinarity the secondary focus area is intended to provide, especially in contrast to the existing majors associated with the disciplinary area in question.
Program Options
General Study option
Students choose 2 disciplines: one as their primary category and another as their secondary category. The course selection must adhere to the program structure. Most, if not all, courses should fall under the Faculty of Arts. Applications to the general study option do not need a prior discussion with either the IDST Program Chair or the Student Program Coordinator.
Thematic Study option
Students choose a main theme to focus their degree on rather than a single discipline. The course selection must contribute to the coherence of the focus of your study. As the IDST program leads to a B.A. degree, your theme should still have a focus on Arts-related topics. Both admission and program revision for a thematic study option are at the discretion of the IDST Program Chair. Applications to the thematic study option would need prior discussion with either the IDST Program Chair or the Student Program Coordinator.
For example, a student may choose Feminism as their theme, drawing in courses from GRSJ, HIST, SOCI, ENGL, GEOG and other fields.
The requirements for a thematic study option is similar to that of a general study option, with a few changes.
30 credits will come from courses about or related to your primary category. This will be your chosen theme/topic of interest. To continue with the example above, a student who chooses Feminism as their theme, would list 30 credits from courses related to their theme. An example list of courses would be AMNE 325, ANTH 312, ASIA 461, CENS 307, CENS 404, FMST 316, GEOG 424, GRSJ 320, GRSJ 325, and GRSJ 410.
12 credits will come from a field or discipline unrelated to the primary category you have chosen. For our sample student who chose Feminism as their theme, an example is to include 12 upper-level courses in Spanish.
Program Structure
Categories
B.A. disciplines and courses are classified into 3 categories; IDST students select one of these to be their primary category, and another for their secondary category.
- Humanities, such as history, philosophy, languages, literature and classics, apply critical-speculative and interpretive approaches to knowledge production;
- Social Sciences, such as sociology, linguistics, and psychology, which often (but not exclusively) produce knowledge by applying empirical methods developed in the natural sciences to studies of human relationships and behavior; and
- Creative and Performing Arts, in which people create products of aesthetic value and subjective or interpretive meaning.
Courses included, but not limited to the following, in each category.
- Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies (AMNE)
- Area studies (ASIA*, AFST, CDST, CENS, LAST, etc.)
- Art History (ARTH)
- First Nations and Indigenous Studies (FNIS, many FNEL courses)
- History (HIST, MDVL, etc.)
- Languages and Literary studies (CHIN*, ENGL, KORN*, FREN, SPAN, GERM, SWED, etc.)
- Philosophy (PHIL)
- Romance Studies (RMST)
*Asian Studies (including ASIA and Asian Language courses) are considered to share the same course code under the same category.
- Creative Writing (CRWR)
- Film Production (FIPR)
- Theatre (THTR)
- Visual Arts (VISA)
* Courses from existing interdisciplinary minors (ENSO, HESO, LASO) and others topically-related to your main theme will be considered in the context of the rest of your course selection.
Frequently Asked Questions
A maximum of 4 upper-level COMM/COMR courses are allowed under the Social Science category if your primary focus area is ECON/POLI.
We do not allow students to include their 1.5 credit COMM courses in their IDST program. Your B+MM courses will need to be electives, and cannot be built into the IDST program itself.
You must select a new course within the same category to fulfill your IDST program requirements by submitting a program revision form. If a course has a registration restriction, you should consult with the department offering the course (especially in the case of specialized seminars) and it is their decision to whether waive the registration restriction for you or not.
All course revisions are subject to the Program Chair's approval, and must continue to support your coherent program. IDST cannot guarantee registration in any courses, and selecting a course for your IDST program does not constitute grounds to override a department's or instructor's enrolment capacity.
Students must submit the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies' Enrolment of Undergraduate Students in a Graduate Course Form, with approval of the course instructor, and Arts Academic Advising.
Students are generally only granted permission to enroll in graduate courses if they've completed 75% (normally equivalent to 36 credits) of their 300- and 400-level degree and program requirements and attained a minimum overall average of 76% (B+) in your completed 300- and 400-level courses. You must have also completed any necessary course prerequisites.
The course instructor, Arts Academic Advising, and G+PS each have the right to refuse students' requests to enroll in graduate courses. Many graduate programs offer classes specifically tailored to their curriculum, and planning to include a course to your IDST program does not grant you the right to registration.
All courses you include in your IDST program should be at the undergraduate level, with any graduate courses to be added through the program revision form after your registration in them is approved.
You can include these courses in your IDST program, but registering in them requires the assent of the department offering the course. Many of these courses only have enough seats to meet the need of the department's honours students, and instructors and the departments have the right to refuse registration to other students.
Primary Category
Your primary category is divided into two parts.
- Your primary focus area is generally a single subject code (e.g. HIST), but may include two closely-related codes from the same department (e.g. ASIA and CHIN).
- Your secondary focus area can be from multiple subjects in the same category. For example, a student who chooses Social Science for their primary category may have a primary focus of Sociology and take Geography and Political Science courses for their secondary focus
Secondary Category
Your secondary category can also be from multiple subjects in the same category that is not identical to your primary category. To take the same example, a student who chooses Social Science for their primary category has Humanities for their secondary category with courses in History and Philosophy.
Research Courses
The IDST program offers two research courses to students with a year 4 standing that give you an opportunity to reflect on what it means to be in an interdisciplinary program, and how to best develop and use the skills that are unique to the program that you have designed for yourself.
This research course restricted to IDST students who have:
- Year 4 standing, and
- Do not have ECON as their primary focus
This course focuses on planning and conducting an interdisciplinary research project, as well as communicating your interests and goals with your peers.
In the IDST program, each student has designed their own unique program of study that combines different disciplines together. This capstone course offers an opportunity to explore the ways that these different disciplines can be combined together to investigate a compelling academic question or theme. You will explore the advantages and challenges of interdisciplinary research and collaboration with other interdisciplinary researchers.
This course can satisfy the Research Component of the Writing and Research Requirement of your BA degree. You may also use this course to fulfill credits in any of the categories of your IDST program. In other words, you can put this course into your primary category or your secondary category, as you prefer.
This course is only offered in term 2. If you want to register for ASTU 401D, please submit your request during your registration period. This course has limited seats and we cannot guarantee registration. There is no waitlist and the remaining seats will be assigned on a first come, first served basis.
You will be contacted to confirm registration into the course within your registration period. Please contact us if you have not heard from us. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience.
This research course restricted to IDST students who have:
- Year 4 standing,
- ECON as their primary focus, and
- Met the prerequisites
ECON 390 needs to be included in your IDST program in order to apply to both your IDST program requirements and Faculty of Arts research requirement.
This course is offered in both term 1 and term 2. If you want to register for ECON 390, please submit your request during your registration period. This course has limited seats and we cannot guarantee registration. There is no waitlist and the remaining seats will be assigned on a first come, first served basis.
You will be contacted to confirm registration into the course within your registration period. Please contact us if you have not heard from us. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience.
IDST students are responsible for ensuring all BA degree requirements are met. Most IDST students select a research-intensive course within their primary focus area, but may also choose a research-intensive course for other IDST requirements or even their electives. One thing to remember is that seats in research-intensive courses are often reserved for students majoring in the discipline and may not be available.
Graduation
Prepare to graduate by following the Arts graduation checklist.