Program Description
The Bachelor of Arts, Major in Asian Studies degree will allow students to develop the competencies characteristic of a traditional BA program while preparing them to respond creatively to the challenges they will encounter in an increasingly interconnected world. In this four-year interdisciplinary program, they will not only acquire practical skills that they can employ in their multicultural communities locally, students will also develop the intellectual and cultural competencies required to operate successfully in a world where the nations of East and South Asia are increasingly influential.
Asian Studies students will begin their first year of studies with courses that introduce them to Asian Studies as a discipline and to the countries and cultures of East and South Asia. These courses will begin to build the critical thinking, communication, and intercultural competencies that will allow them to succeed in more advanced courses. As students progress to more narrowly defined regional and thematic courses, they will examine in greater depth the societies, cultures, political systems, economies, and histories of the peoples and nations of South and East Asia, as well as their interactions with Canada and the rest of the world.