University Arts at Red Deer Polytechnic

The two-year University Arts Diploma offers students the opportunity to learn about the issues and people shaping their world through a holistic approach to knowledge that is interdisciplinary in emphasis and chronologically broad in its topics. Students are able to determine their futures through a focus on general University Arts, which allows students to concentrate on a particular area of interest within the Humanities (English, History/Classics, Philosophy) and Social Sciences (Anthropology, Communications, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology) or through one of three thematic specializations—Global Perspectives; Science and Society; Culture, Societies, and Gender—that centre on timely themes and subjects.

With a choice of pathways, resulting in a University Arts Diploma, students are able to concentrate on what matters to them while gaining transferable knowledge and skills that will give them a leg up in an ever-uncertain future. In an age where intricate problems do not respond to traditional solutions, the ability to think beyond disciplinary boundaries, offer critical analysis, craft well-considered assessments, supported by adaptive thinking in pursuit of solutions, will be the foundation for students’ further educational goals or employment aspirations.

Please note: all students apply to the University Arts Diploma. Following Admission, students may, if they choose, declare a specialization in Year 1 or Year 2 prior to graduation. Specializations are noted on transcripts. Students who choose not to specialize, or who do not meet the requirements of a specialization, will graduate with the same University Arts Diploma (without a specialization noted on their transcripts).

Global Perspectives Stream: 

Today’s world is linked through commerce, culture, and crisis, to name only three elements of globalization.  This interconnectedness can be a cause of great optimism but also of great unease for the citizens of nations that form the global community.  In this Diploma Stream explore the historical and contemporary issues of an interrelated world, from the perspective of various humanities and social sciences disciplines, and learn that the questions arising from globalization have deep roots. 

Science and Society Stream:  

Discover how humanity’s collective and evolving understanding of reality is increasingly enlightened by the pursuit of scientific knowledge.   Students can choose from a variety of courses exploring the ongoing and historical development of the sciences, their philosophical assumptions and methodological commitments, their social significance, and their value commitments. Course work will also explore the way in which science transforms social, political, economic, environmental, and culture factors as well as the ways in which the sciences, themselves, are shaped by those factors. 

Culture, Societies, and Gender Stream:  

Cultural perspectives on gender have profoundly shaped past societies and changing views on gender and sexuality continue to transform our lives today. By analyzing gender through a multi-disciplinary theoretical framework, students will investigate gender and sexuality as understood in both historical and contemporary contexts, and reflect upon a variety of social, moral, political, and economic issues.