The world is rapidly globalizing, bringing exciting opportunities and daunting challenges. Global and International Studies, hereafter referred to as Global Studies, seeks to tackle this brave new world in all its complexity. Students are trained to be global citizens, global thinkers, and global problem-solvers, and prepare them for global careers in academia, business, government, and the non-profit sector, among others. A unique feature of the program is that students are trained in foreign languages. Language is the entry-point for understanding the world’s cultures and equips students for studying and working abroad.

Global Studies is a holistic and timely field of study whose scope is the whole Earth and whose eyes are on the future, aiding a global transformation toward healthy, just, peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable societies for all. The focus of the program is on the ‘big picture,’ international to global. Using multi-disciplinary, multi-perspective, local-to-global, and critical ways of thinking, students emerge from University of Northern British Columbia’s program with knowledge of the macro-level structures, actors, processes, ideas, issues, and events shaping our planet and its societies.

The curriculum is organized around four themes:

• Global environment and sustainability
• Global cultures and diversity
• Global governance and social justice
• Global political economy and development.

Besides literacy and numeracy, citizenship and diplomacy are fundamental skills needed to achieve a good quality of life. Citizenship includes both the rights and duties of membership in a political community. Diplomacy is the art and practice of reaching agreements through negotiation. A healthy democracy requires the active and informed participation of its citizens, but this is only possible with a good understanding of its political institutions, processes and issues. Political Science is the discipline devoted to the systematic investigation of citizenship and diplomacy in local, national and international communities.

To achieve its purposes, the Department of Political Science offers the opportunity to study political philosophy, comparative politics, Canadian government, international politics and public administration. The latter field is offered in the Local Government Administration Certificate, which focuses on municipal and local government administration.