Certificate in University Foundation

at University of the Fraser Valley - Abbotsford Campus Canada

Develop an appreciation for other ways of life and examine your own with a UFV Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology. Pairing  these two disciplines provides an ideal framework to explore how society and culture influence your perspective, biases, and worldview.

In your first and second year, you explore foundational sociology and anthropology concepts. You reflect on what it means to be human: A look at life in a hunting band or a Himalayan village brings life in your city into new focus. Investigating the challenges facing indigenous and Third World peoples helps you become a better world citizen.

In your third and fourth year, you tackle in-depth courses. You examine the ideas of famous theorists, discuss contemporary issues such as globalization and social change, and learn the skills to conduct quantitative and qualitative research and analysis. Throughout your degree, you build an appreciation for Canadian diversity and First Nations cultures.

By the end of your degree, you have gained a broad understanding of your society, sharpened your cross-cultural skills, and developed sought-after research, analysis, and writing skills.
Start your studies by reviewing the foundations of adult education and e-learning. Round up your first 60 credits through a combination of UFV coursework, transfer credit, and Prior Learning Assessment.

To earn your upper-level credits, you explore instructional design, adult education theory, and elective topics that fit your interests. All courses pair practical and theoretical coursework with real-life workplace experiences.
Near the end of your Bachelor of Arts in Adult Education degree, solidify your knowledge through three capstone courses where you explore your passions, synthesize your learning, and apply reflective techniques.

As the study of human movement, kinesiology explores a broad range of topics that include anatomy, biomechanics, exercise physiology, sociology, education, active health, wellness, and nutrition.

Bachelor of Kinesiology
In the Kinesiology program, you go well beyond the questions of how and why we move, and start to explore how we can optimize the human potential for health, performance, and overall wellness.

In your first and second year, you learn foundational topics such as human anatomy, sport psychology, biomechanics, and human nutrition, as well as physical activity, health, and fitness. You explore a variety of fields that may be of interest before choosing to specialize in exercise science, pedagogy, or active health.

In your third and fourth year, you develop skills for teaching and counselling athletes, and learn about athletic injuries, research methods, applied ethics, physiology, exercise testing, and exercise prescription. You also select a specialty out of the following specializations:

• The Exercise Science specialization prepares you for a career as a kinesiologist or exercise physiologist, graduate school, and/or professional school (such as physiotherapy, medicine or chiropractic).
• The Pedagogy specialization prepares you for continued certification in teacher education, coaching, sport performance advising, and/or graduate school.
• The Active Health specialization prepares you for a career in health and wellness, specifically community health and fitness, athletic therapy, sports psychology, and fitness management and recreation, and those planning to continue onto graduate school.

The Theatre diploma is a 60-credit program that introduces students to all areas of theatre, including acting, stagecraft, and performance studies. All students enrolled in the diploma gain applied, practical experience by working on UFV Theatre productions.

The Theatre diploma is for anyone interested in learning more about theatre, the performing arts, or performance studies. It is suitable for people from a wide range of backgrounds, including direct-entry from high school, international students, mature students, adults who wish to access life-long learning opportunities, and Indigenous students. Applicants do not need to have theatre experience.

Students graduate from the Theatre diploma with enhanced performance and stagecraft skills, a deep appreciation of theatre and performance, and the ability to collaborate and communicate effectively. Students can ladder into the BA Theatre Major, extended minor, or minor.

FEATURES:

• Practicum provides work experience and industry contacts
• Participate in professional UFV theatre productions and gain hands on experience
• Program eligible for financial aid

UFV’s Early Childhood Education diploma builds on the knowledge and skills obtained through the ECE certificate program. Having established a strong foundation of professional practice with the ECE certificate, you can choose to further your knowledge and competencies to work specifically with infants or children with special needs. These two program options share a common set of three core courses and each requires a different set of three specialty courses, including a 26-hour seminar and a 200-hour practicum.

The Associate of Arts, Media and Communication Studies option, focuses on the study of information - how it is created, packaged, distributed, and used.

You will learn about different media industries, including social networks, and how they are changing. You will learn how advertising and other commercial images affect you, how Canadians fit into the global village and what it means to be literate in the new media; in short, you will learn how your life and society are changing in response to innovations in communication.

Students seeking careers in the technical areas of media production will find these courses very valuable, but will need courses from elsewhere to provide instruction in the mechanics of production. For example, while the music industry is studied, sound recording is not.

Graduates of the Associate of Arts, Media and Communication Studies option are prepared to seek employment, to transfer to one of the many degree programs in Canada, or to ladder into the Bachelor of Arts (MACS minor or extended minor) at UFV. Graduates are also eligible to apply to enter into the third year of the Bachelor of Arts in Professional Communication at Royal Roads University.

UFV's multi-disciplinary Migration and Citizenship graduate certificate program uses real case studies to investigate human movement, resettlement, and belonging, both globally and with a particular focus on the Canadian experience.

1. As a Migration and Citizenship student, you will:
   • Examine human migration, whether voluntary, forced, permanent, or temporary, in transnational and intrastate contexts;
   • Investigate how this mobility is shaped by different governments and state institutions;
   • Learn about the experiences and identities of the migrants and the diverse forms of communities that they create.
2. You will also:
   • Explore the various meanings of citizenship in contexts of migration;
   • Analyze how they are shaped by legal, political, institutional, economic, social, and cultural dynamics of inclusion and exclusion and how they are created by migrant experiences, identities, and communities, and through policies, practices, and discourses.

The Migration and Citizenship graduate certificate is designed for employed professionals wanting to grow their skills or recent graduates wishing to enter the field of immigration and resettlement.

The program is scheduled to accommodate both working and full-time students, with classes offered in evening and weekend time slots. If you choose to study full time, you can complete this graduate certificate in eight months. But you can also opt to study part-time and take up to three years to earn your credential.

Get a broad, high-quality foundation in the Arts and add a valuable credential to your résumé by earning an Associate of Arts degree at UFV.

Within the degree, you can choose from the following options:

• General option
• International and Development Studies option
• Media and Communication Studies option
• Theatre option

This program includes a breadth of intellectual and academic experience worthwhile if your educational or career goals lie in the humanities, the creative and performing arts, or the social sciences.

In addition, practicum opportunities and optional paid co-op work placements throughout your studies allow you to gain valuable work experience.

The Associate of Arts degree may serve as a stepping stone if you plan to continue your studies to earn a Bachelor of Arts at UFV or elsewhere.

UFV offers the first year of the Bachelor of Applied Science (Engineering) degree program for students wishing to transfer to the University of British Columbia or the University of Victoria. Upon completion of the UFV program, students may be allowed to enter the second-year Engineering programs at UBC and UVic without any additional qualifying courses, providing they meet the entrance requirements for the program at these institutions.

Students transferring to UBC or UVic from the UFV program with the minimum required GPA may be admitted to the UBC/UVic second-year program. Once admitted, all students, regardless of their first-year institution, then compete for seats in different specialties based on their GPA; popular specialties have higher GPA requirements than the entrance GPA. UBC also allows admission from General Sciences, but may require a higher entrance GPA.

UFV's two-year Social Services diploma prepares you to work at the para-professional level in the human services field.

You establish a strong foundation of professional practice in areas of addiction, child welfare, community services, corrections, family and home support services, immigration and refugee services, Indigenous services, mental health, residential care, schools, and social assistance.  Two 13- to 15-week practica allow you to develop job-ready skills and connect to social service agencies and community groups in your local area. 

You may pursue the Social Services diploma full- or part-time. After you graduate, you are ready to enter the workforce. You can also continue your studies and ladder into the UFV Bachelor of Social Work degree program after you have taken the required pre-requisites.

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computerized data management system that allows us to visualize, investigate, and interpret information related to our world. GIS has become increasingly prevalent in industry, research and academia within a wide variety of fields. Applications of GIS range from creating maps displaying information of interest to using spatial analyses to detect relationships, patterns, and trends in location-based data. As such, GIS can be an essential tool for mapping, research, and decision making.

The GIS certificate program is designed to provide students with the core concepts underlying the use of location-based GIS data as well as the essential software skills necessary for work in both public and private sectors.

This program combines courses in the Geography, Computer Information Systems and Mathematics departments into a certificate. The program consists of a minimum of 31 credits.