Program. Faculty. Location. This is what UNBC offers.
Building on more than 25 years of experience, our program is structured so that students are introduced to key concepts, theoretical analysis, and practice in Global Development and Global Environment. Along with completing a required seminar in research methods, students choose from a wide range of electives spanning 11 different departments.
Analyzing Global Development as process, the program offers courses focusing on regions of the Global South, the Circumpolar North, Indigenous issues, and global-local dynamics, with consistent attention to the connections between development and the environment. The vibrant Global Fridays Speakers Series regularly provides opportunities to engage with speakers on a range of global issues.
Students are admitted into a two-year coursework-based program. Depending on coursework performance and supervisor availability, students may apply after their first year to follow either (a) a thesis-based program in which they have the opportunity to work in depth on a topic under the supervision of a faculty member or (b) the innovative major research paper–based program where students work with a faculty supervisor on a shorter piece.
Whichever option you take, you will be provided with the flexibility to pursue your passion while also honing the theoretical and methodological skills to be successful during your course of study and in your future workplace or further education. For example, the program trains students in analytical and communication skills required for employment in NGOs and private and public sectors and in the conceptual, methodological, and research skills required to advance to doctoral-level study. Our students have gone on to careers in many fields, including but not limited to the Canadian Foreign Service, federal and provincial governments, child rights advocacy, international business relations, international environmental NGOs, climate change research institutes, academic institutions, and community development.
The MA INTS program includes faculty from a number of departments, including the Department of Global and International Studies. The core faculty, available as potential supervisors, have research interests and expertise spanning Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Arctic. They have thematic specializations in areas such as globalization, critical/alternative and rural development, environment and climate change, natural resources and extractivism, gender and feminism, human rights, Indigenous issues, business practices, humanitarianism, and conflict and security studies. They have experience researching and working with international organizations (such as the Asian Development Bank, the International Labour Organisation, UNICEF, and the World Bank) and with NGOs. They include winners of UNBC and national teaching awards and national and international research award. Our faculty enjoy a high level of granting success at the national and international levels, often including funding for graduate students.
In its location, UNBC is unlike most Canadian universities. The vast majority of Canada’s population, and most of the country’s universities, are found in a narrow strip of Southern Canada along the US border. UNBC, in contrast, is located in Prince George, British Columbia, on a hilltop campus on the Traditional Territory of the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation. with a spectacular view of mountains to the east. Here you will discover a region beyond the experience of many Canadians, where Indigenous cultures are strong, where undisturbed ecosystems confront industrial resource development, where global influences and trade are reshaping the economy, and where the impacts of climate change can be readily understood. UNBC is a unique and compelling location from which, and in which, to study Global Development and Environment.
The MA in International Studies at UNBC: Program. Faculty. Location. Join us!
International Studies MA Program - Graduate Calendar
International Studies MA Program - 2025-2026 Graduate Handbook (In progress)