Students admitted to the Arts or the Arts and Business entry programs are encouraged to declare a major, or major with specialization, after their first year of study. Students admitted directly in to the Social Development Studies major do not need to declare their major subsequently. Students who do not declare a major after their first year of study will be registered in General or Honours Liberal Studies, depending on their Faculty of Arts average, and may choose to remain in a Liberal Studies plan or declare a different major at a later date. Students are able to declare or change their academic plan later in their studies, but are encouraged to consult with an academic advisor about the impact of doing so.
Students registered in Accounting and Financial Management, Computing and Financial Management, Global Business and Digital Arts, and Sustainability and Financial Management should consult the appropriate section of this Calendar for their degree requirements. These programs are direct-entry programs and do not require students to declare a major.
Minors can be declared at any time during a student’s undergraduate career; however, students are encouraged to declare a minor before the start of their last academic term.
Specializations are not stand-alone plans and can therefore only be declared with the associated major plan.
Information on the requirements for each academic plan/major can be found in this Calendar under Arts Academic Plans.
Some plans cannot be combined. See Invalid Credential Combinations in this Calendar for further information.
Declaring a Major
Honours Arts and Honours Arts and Business
To declare a major in Honours Arts or Honours Arts and Business, students must have:
- successfully completed at least eight courses (4.0 academic units),
- successfully completed one or two courses (0.5 or 1.0 academic unit) in the major field, and
- achieved the average required to declare the major as specified in the academic plan.
Note
Most academic units require successful completion of specific courses for admission to a major. Students should consult the corresponding academic advisor to ensure their course selections are appropriate.
Honours Liberal Studies
To be eligible for the Honours Liberal Studies academic plan, students must have:
- successfully completed at least eight courses (4.0 academic units) towards their degree, and
- achieved a cumulative Faculty of Arts course average of 70% or higher.
Students can elect to combine the Honours Liberal Studies academic plan with Arts and Business.
Note
Liberal Studies plans function as majors for the purposes of plan-level requirements, calculation of averages, academic progression, and plan combinations.
Declaring an Honours Double Major (Within the Faculty of Arts)
Any two honours majors may be combined for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree, with the exception of French Teaching Specialization, Liberal Studies, and Mathematical Economics (BA).
To declare two honours majors, students must have:
- successfully completed at least eight courses (4.0 academic units),
- successfully completed one or two courses (0.5 or 1.0 academic unit) in each major field, and
- achieved the average required to declare each of the majors.
Notes
- Most academic units require successful completion of specific courses for admission to a major. Students should consult an academic advisor to ensure their course selections are appropriate.
- Enrolment by a co-op student in a double major does not provide grounds for changes to the study/work sequence.
Declaring a Joint Honours Major (Outside the Faculty of Arts)
When an Arts major is combined with a major in another faculty, it is referred to as Joint Honours.
To declare a joint honours plan, students enrolled in Honours Arts must be eligible to declare an Honours Arts major (see Declaring a Major above), and at the same time, be eligible to declare an honours major in the other faculty (see faculty-specific regulations).
Declaring a Minor
To declare a minor, students must have successfully completed one course (0.5 academic unit) in the minor field and achieved the required average for the minor as specified in the academic plan.