Master of Arts in Philosophy (Course-Based)

at University of Ottawa Canada

Economics
Ever wonder why some countries are richer than others? Ever question why income inequality has been growing? Ever wonder why Canadian politicians worry when other countries may be going bankrupt? Economics can answer all these questions. 

Economics examines how individuals and society make choices in a world where resources are limited. It focuses on the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. Two important themes are efficiency (the absence of waste in the use of resources) and fairness. Since making choices is central to all human activities, studying economics often helps explain why people and governments behave in certain ways.

Political Science
Politics is omnipresent in our lives. Political science seeks to describe, analyze, understand and assess the principles and power relations that govern social life. It revolves as much around the structures and institutions that define these relations and principles as around the ideas and practices that drive them. It studies everything that influences political life and institutions (ideologies, groups, social movements, etc.) on a local, regional, national and international scale.

Our programs offer in-depth training in political science and encourage critical reflection on pivotal issues like citizenship, identity, political participation, globalization and development, governance and the state, and ethics and democracy. A discipline open to many theoretical and methodological approaches, political science constantly exchanges and shares with other fields. At the University of Ottawa's School of Political Studies, you build your knowledge in four subfields of political science: political thought, Canadian and Quebec politics, comparative politics, and international relations and global politics.

Students will acquire knowledge and have opportunities to apply what they learn in the various capacities of a kinesiologist. Kinesiology involves the application of principles from biomechanics, physiology, and motor behaviour to improve peoples’ functional movement, motor performance, and to manage and prevent injury and disease. Students will be offered courses oriented towards the core competencies required by the College of Kinesiologists of Ontario to pursue a professional career as a Registered Kinesiologist (R Kin). Students will gain theoretical and practical training, and will acquire skills to critically examine literature in the biophysical sciences of human movement.

Students will acquire knowledge, competencies and techniques for assessing and promoting performance and functional capacity, and for preventing and managing injury and chronic disease. They will obtain practical skills in exercise prescription to enhance performance and health, and for the treatment of individuals with compromised function. Students will have opportunities to gain training in how to use exercise in the management of injury, chronic disease, and in rehabilitation. They will have opportunities to gain training in ergonomics to critically assess and design equipment and workplaces to optimize performance and minimize musculoskeletal injury risk. They will gain applied counselling skills in principles of behaviour change to help individuals become more physically active and to help them enhance their health and well-being. Students will acquire knowledge in class settings and in laboratory-based and field practicum. In these rich practical experiences, they will learn to interact with different populations, from either different age groups (preschoolers, youth, young adults, the aged) or from groups of varying functional levels (e.g., athletes, sedentary people, persons with chronic disease, people in rehabilitation). Our students will gain practical experiences that better prepare them to pursue a career as a kinesiologist.

Our graduates are eligible to challenge the professional licensing examination for the College of Kinesiologists of Ontario, the external regulatory body for the profession of kinesiology and the R Kin designation. Applied Studies in Kinesiology enable graduates to pursue various career-paths in different occupational roles. For example, our graduates can become strength and conditioning coaches in high-performance training facilities and professional sport organizations. They can work among allied health professionals in community health centres and outpatient hospital programs, prescribing exercise treatments to help people manage chronic conditions. Our graduates can also find roles in rehabilitation clinics prescribing exercise and mobility protocol to facilitate injured persons’ return to work. They can work for occupational health and safety companies, conducting ergonomic assessments and re-designing spaces to enhance how people move in the workplace. They can become physical activity counsellors in family health teams or community health centres. Our graduates can initiate start-up enterprises in private kinesiology services. They can also work toward employment as certified ergonomists and pursue post-graduate certification in advanced ergonomics studies. Many of our graduates receive certification as Certified Exercise Physiologists from the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP-CEP) and others pursue accredited membership with La Fédération des Kinésiologues du Québec. Our graduates can also pursue advanced degrees in allied health and rehabilitation fields (e.g., physiotherapy, occupational therapy).

The graduate studies in law are a joint endeavour of the Common Law and Civil Law Sections. We welcome law graduates from both legal systems and from countries around the world. Courses are offered in English or in French, and occasionally in both languages. Students may readily complete their graduate studies while learning something of Canada's other legal and linguistic traditions.

In the three-year Bachelor of Social Sciences program, students cover the fundamentals of the social sciences while studying three specific areas of their choice, including at least two from the following areas: anthropology, criminology, economics, political science, psychology, public administration, sociology and women’s studies. In addition, the Bachelor of Social Sciences is an excellent springboard to studies in law or education.

This program is designed to equip students with the necessary financial tools for a career in either the corporate sector or investment. The theory and practice of financial management are combined with a comprehensive presentation of the financial instruments issued by corporations and modern valuation techniques. Students can extend their financial knowledge by focusing on derivative markets, and specialized topics in corporate and international finance. 

Electrical engineering is at the heart of today's exciting advances in technology. With five technical specializations—communications, systems, electronics, microwave and photonic, and power and sustainable energy—our curriculum will enable you to influence how the world communities communicate, generate sustainable energy and heal diseases. As an electrical engineer, you will work with other engineers or scientists on emerging technologies.

The option of Engineering Management will prepare you with necessary skills to pursue entrepreneurial activities and start your own technology-related business. The double degree program—BASc in Electrical Engineering and BSc in Computing Technology—will put you at the intersection of the two areas that propel the waves of technological development.

Ours is the communication and information age. Analyzing how information is gathered, produced and distributed today helps us understand the communication processes that drive a variety of settings: social, cultural, political, organizational, economic and legal. In this program, you will develop critical and analytical skills in order to evaluate the nature and impact of technology and media on society, organizations and interpersonal relations. You will have the opportunity to be exposed to the latest developments in the field of communication (communication strategies, digital media, evolution of the media industry, advertising, crisis communications, negotiations, etc.). The Department of Communication offers courses in two main areas: media studies and organizational communication (internal and external communication in public and private organizations, health communication, organizational change, etc.). Combining theory and practice, our programs develop your critical and analytical skills and prepare you either for a professional career or for advanced studies.

Environmental issues fill the headlines — climate change, the oil sands, species loss, to name but a few. Is it possible to grow the economy and protect the environment at the same time? Is our current economic path sustainable? The Honours Bachelor in Environmental Economics and Public Policy provides students with a multidisciplinary understanding of the environment, the economy and the interaction between the two. The program includes a CO-OP option, and students may also undertake a research internship in the public or non-profit sector in fourth year. All students undertake original policy research in a capstone course in either environmental or natural resource economics. The program opens doors to careers in environment-economy policy development and analysis in the public, private and non-profit sectors.

Mathematics and statistics are not only powerful problem-solving tools, but also highly creative fields of studies that combine imagination with logic, and precision with intuition. 

Mathematics is much more than numbers! Its basic goal is to reveal and model general patterns to help explain our world, whether they be found in electrical impulses in the human nervous system, the evolution of animal populations in their habitats, fluctuations in stock-market prices, or electronic communications. Mathematics reaches far beyond science and engineering into medicine, business and the social sciences. 

Advances in mathematics and statistics lie behind many discoveries that are now part of our daily lives, such as MRI scanners, digital compression of music and video, secure electronic communications, data mining, genomic algorithms, futures pricing, and many other innovations. 

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers Honours, majors and minors both in mathematics and in statistics. Our Honours program in statistics is accredited by the Statistical Society of Canada, allowing graduates to earn the A.Stat. professional designation. Moreover, the Department offers a joint honours program in mathematics and economics, a joint honours program in mathematics and computer science, as well as a multidisciplinary program in financial mathematics and economics. All our honours programs also include the co-operative education option.

The University of Ottawa offers a rich academic environment to study mathematics and statistics under the supervision of professors who have gained an international reputation for their research. Most major fields of research in mathematics and statistics are represented within the Department of mathematics and Statistics. Moreover, the Department is a participating unit in the master's level collaborative programs in bioinformatics and in biostatistics.