Certificates and You: Augmenting Your Arts Degree
Get more out of your Arts degree as an undergrad!
Your Arts degree is NOT linear! It isn’t just about going from 0 to 120 credits! It’s about exploring new ideas, taking exciting opportunities to learn outside of your comfort zone, expanding your skillset, and figuring out what you’re truly passionate about.
Many students augment their degree through opportunities like Arts Work Experience (AWE) or Community Service Learning (CSL), but any Arts student can gain training and confidence in a specific field by earning certificates as part of their degree! Pursuing our certificates can guide you toward a new field of study, complement your degree program, or give you a specific new skill that you find useful.
Note that this article shouldn’t serve as an exhaustive list of certificates available to you as an Arts student at the University of Alberta! These are super cool and apply to a wide variety of students in our community, but you can find a full list on our website right here.
Certificate in Ethics
“This Certificate program will provide students with an understanding of central ethical theories and with core competencies in the application of this theoretical knowledge to emerging ethical issues. Students who complete the program may choose to utilize the learning outcomes in a professional career outside the academy or to continue with a career in the academic setting.”
As the blurb above mentions, this is a great certificate for those who are considering both academic or professional pursuits after finishing their undergraduate degree! Whether you feel like you have a perfect path in mind for life after convocation or simply want to delve deeper into this type of important topic, we’re not shy about recommending this certificate to anyone.
The Ethics Certificate can be claimed once students have completed PHIL 250 — Contemporary Ethical Issues as well as 15 credits from a specific list of courses (most are Philosophy with other options from fields like Political Science, Genetics, or Education Policy Studies). Each applicable course covers a specific ethics topic or theme ranging from the ethics of teaching to discussions around artificial intelligence or hunting. The ability to pick and choose which courses you’re most interested in when pursuing this certificate makes it a really unique and exciting option, and very few students will ever have the same experience of acquiring it.
Learn more about this certificate here!
Certificate in Globalization and Governance
“This Certificate in Globalization and Governance includes undergraduate POL S courses that position students to identify and critically analyze the dynamics of globalization, structures of global governance, local manifestations of globalization, and opposition to globalization.”
If you’re already a political science student, are looking for an interesting route during your studies, or are particularly interested in Globalization as a topic, this is a shoo-in for you! This topic is as massive as our world is complex, and there will always be more to learn and discuss when it comes to theories regarding global trade, worldwide political movements, and currently relevant subjects such as the impacts of public health crises like COVID-19.
Every single course that can be taken to fulfill this certificate’s 18-credit requirement comes from our Political Science department, but on top of needing to complete all of your other degree requirements, the only 100% necessary course for this certificate is POL S 101 — Introduction to Politics. If you’ve declared Political Science as your major or minor already, you’ll likely already be taking most of the courses available to meet the requirements anyways, pretty neat!
Learn more about this certificate here!
Certificate in Computer Game Development
“The Certificate in Computer Game Development is a joint certificate offered by the Faculties of Arts and Science and is open to any undergraduate student at the University of Alberta. The certificate complements discipline-specific studies with courses that provide opportunities to work in multidisciplinary teams, build complete small and medium-scale games, and interact with industry.”
Whether you’re a Super Smash Bros. combo legend or haven’t touched a controller in your life, this certificate gives you the theory, practice, and connections needed to make original video games on your own! Many Arts degrees enable your creativity and give you the ability to turn an idea into something truly special, and this certificate helps you get started in a new, ever-changing digital medium.
This certificate only requires CMPUT 250 — Computers and Games, INT D 450 — Computers and Games, and 12 credits from a range of optional courses to be completed. Learn about programming, game design, music technologies, and more, and create amazing games while doing it! Students looking to combine elements of arts and sciences into their degree will find this especially helpful, and getting insights into the world of coding can open countless unexpected doors for you to take.
Learn more about this certificate here!
Certificate in Community Engagement and Service-Learning
“The Certificate in Community Engagement and Service-Learning formally designates that a student has significantly integrated community service-learning (CSL) into their postsecondary education. The knowledge and experience gained through engagement and service-learning are applicable to a wide range of careers, including those in non-governmental organizations, the volunteer sector, business and government, and academic institutions.”
If you were planning on ever experiencing what Community Service-Learning (CSL) has to offer during your degree, this is an absolute slam-dunk for you. Community engagement is extremely important for any government agency, non-profit organization, and the countless private companies that need the input of community stakeholders to make their projects and initiatives successful. This skillset helps you build trusting relationships with community members, hear and represent the interests of diverse stakeholders, and empower marginalized voices in the spaces where they’re needed the most.
Completing 3 credits of a CSL-designated introduction course is a baseline requirement, and finishing 9 credits in any other CSL-designated course is the only other academic requirement. On top of this, applicants must successfully complete one non-credit CSL opportunity to obtain this certificate, giving you even more experience working within the communities that matter to you. If you’re already on the CSL path, you would be hard-pressed to pass on this opportunity!
Learn more about this certificate here!
Certificate in Peace and Post-Conflict Studies
“This unique certificate in Peace and Post-Conflict Studies, will equip students from a number of Faculties and disciplines with knowledge of the complexity of instituting measures that address underlying sources of conflict and provide them with hands-on practical approaches to sustaining peace. The peace and post-conflict studies certificate is especially useful for those seeking a career in government, international governmental organizations (IGO), non-governmental organizations (NGO) and legal and business firms.”
Learning how to make a real difference in the lives of people from around the world is a massive reason why many students decide to pursue an Arts degree. If your goal is to spend your time and energy building and pursuing lasting peace or you intend on working with IGOs and NGOs who share that same mission, you should seriously consider pursuing this certificate!
As one of the broadest and most interdisciplinary entries to this list, 27 credits (21 of which must be from the senior level), are required to acquire this certificate. Departments ranging from Anthropology to Drama, Native Studies, Sociology, Religious Studies, and many more have course options included in this certificate. This gives you countless ways to earn it on your own terms. Depending on your field of study and aspirations after graduation (working as a policy advisor, for example), these courses can be of great benefit to your learning even without considering the certificate that you’ll receive at the end of it all.
Learn more about this certificate here!
Remember that different certificates have different application and verification processes! Some need to be applied for using Bear Tracks before you graduate, others have to be enrolled prior to delving deeper into their courses. Just make sure you browse the full catalog and read each certificate’s full description before committing to one.
This article was written by Logan Bourdon, who serves as the Student Engagement and Outreach Specialist for the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Student Services. Logan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alberta in 2020 and has spent the past 4 years working in student services, community engagement, and communications. Logan also missed the chance to do the video game certificate and regrets it to this day, sad.
