Bachelor of Arts in English (Co-op Optional)

at Cape Breton University Canada

CBU offers a four-year Bachelor of Arts Community Studies degree in the field of Mathematics. For years, CBU has been providing impeccable services to its students to prepare them to be successful citizens of the world. Math is a subject that keeps evolving and there are new developments in the subject happening now and then. Along with mathematics, this degree also deals with community studies and how we can positively influence our communities.

CBU has a great faculty of expert mathematicians, state-of-the-art services, and excellent placement records which make this a very desirable course. Students have a number of career options after completing a degree in mathematics namely accountancy & finance, banking, actuarial career, statistician, careers in academia & research, engineering, and many more. 

Over the years a number of students have graduated in the field of mathematics from CBU who have made great careers. The four-year program helps students deal with the basic fundamentals of mathematics and gradually delves into the deeper aspects of the subject.

What skills will I gain from this program?

• Argument and logic skills
• Computer math skills
• Problem-solving & analytical skills
• Risk assessment skills

There’s something special about learning French in Cape Breton. From the impact on local business, to the influence on Canadian culture, one of the two official languages of Canada is taught by dedicated professors, and opens doors to a variety of career choices in education, foreign services, community services and translation, as well as in provincial and federal positions of responsibility.

French is spoken on every continent by millions of people, and is a major asset in business, institutional, professional and day-to-day communications. That’s why our French minor or concentration offers language courses from basic to advanced levels, as well as courses in French literature, culture and linguistics.

Why study at CBU?
At CBU, French courses are designed to help you develop the critical skills needed to understand the language at its core. The goal is to enable students to become familiar with the cultural and linguistic diversity within and beyond the Francophone world.

With students from more than 40 countries at CBU, our dynamic learning environment introduces students to an innovative curriculum that blends teaching and research in language, literature and culture.

Here, we know the study of French language comes in stages. That’s why French courses at CBU compensate for different levels among students, with steps taken to implement individualized instruction. Our dedicated and active faculty is made up of professors whose active research programs keep the French courses competitive and up-to-date, so you’re prepared to apply your skills wherever they are needed after graduation.

• All new students are evaluated to assist them in selecting the appropriate course.
• In the first two years, courses are designed to improve listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.
• In the third year, advanced students enroll in courses that deepen their mastery of the French language and further develop their knowledge of French and Francophone literatures and cultures in Canada and around the world.
• Third-year students also have the unique opportunity to take a wide range of courses in French linguistics that enhance their knowledge of the French language structure and usages, as well as aspects such as language contact, language variation, language pedagogy, language policies, etc., in Canada and other French-speaking countries.

What skills will I gain from this program?

• Mastery of spoken and written French for a wide range of purposes.
• Development of critical, creative and communicative skills, enabling students to better understand and interact with the world around them.
• Knowledge of French-Canadian literatures and cultures.
• Exploration of France and the Francophone world (i.e. Francophone Africa, Francophone Europe, the Caribbean, etc.) through literature, linguistics and cinema.

Hospitality is an important part of our Cape Breton culture. At CBU, our Bachelor of Hospitality and Tourism Management (BHTM) degree is a three-year program that combines tourism and hospitality, business education and the opportunity to augment a specialty area with elective courses. This blended approach to the program, in conjunction with two paid internships, prepares students for a position in this multifaceted industry.

From event planning and management, to service training and hands-on learning, this program provides students with the opportunity to get up close and personal. Discover how small details make every guest feel special, and how unforgettable moments are brought to life every single day. Here, the skills you learn truly impact real lives and influence real experiences.

With results-oriented courses that explore destination marketing, international travel, and event management, it’s no wonder students from more than 40 countries come to Cape Breton Island to learn what they need to succeed in the hospitality industry. Careers in tourism, hotel management, food and beverage, and much more are easy to envision when you spend time living and learning in one of Canada’s most popular tourist destinations.

Cape Breton Island is a hotbed of culture, with a rich, varied landscape of traditions and lore. Traditionally, folklore is the study of informal culture.

The study of a group’s folklore yields valuable insights into how that group operates in the world, but also reveals biases, prejudices and other obstacles to a more inclusive worldview. Most often, folklore is expressive and manifests itself in certain forms, such as story and song, festival and feast, architecture and craft. Although these forms may be manifested in a distinct way by each group, they recur in similar ways across cultures, so folklore examines both the particular context and the general formal patterns of expressive culture.

After providing a solid introduction to folklore genres, analytical approaches and ethnographic methods, folklore students take a balance of regional folklore courses (courses primarily about folklore in Atlantic Canada), and courses emphasizing genres and issues (such as urban legend, gender, food and cultural tourism).

CBU students learn practical skills in interviewing, fieldwork, and ethnographic research while also gaining an awareness of international heritage policy. Folklore’s interdisciplinary nature promotes sharing concerns, methods and insights with others. Through this group learning dynamic, folklore students acquire skills and knowledge that are applicable in a wide range of careers.

What skills will I gain from this program?

• Understand how folklore informs our worldview.
• Recognize the prevalence of folklore in contemporary society.
• Ethnographic fieldwork.
• Analyze the use of traditional forms and styles in popular culture.
• Research and writing.

Why study at CBU?

• Cape Breton is home to several distinct language and expressive communities, including Mi’kmaq, Scottish Gaelic and Acadian. It is home to the only African Orthodox Church in Canada, the only Ukrainian and Polish churches east of Montreal, and a vibrant, multicultural community with many members descended from Italian, Greek, Jewish and Lebanese immigrants, among others.
• Students in the folklore program have access to cutting-edge technological equipment, software and facilities at CBU. The Digitization Lab lends audio and video equipment to students so they can conduct ethnographic fieldwork and interviews. The Media Interpretation and Reception Lab enables video documentation of group interviews and focus groups.
• CBU is also home to the Beaton Institute and the Mi’kmaq Resource Centre, exceptional archival resources that provide primary and historic data sources about the history and culture of Cape Breton Island and its cultural groups. They also regularly accept student research materials, allowing students to leave a legacy that will help future scholars.

Experiential Learning Opportunities

• International exchange agreements with institutions in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland, as well as other countries around the world.
• An archival internship working with folkloric and/or archival materials at an institution such as the Beaton Institute or in a library or museum outside of CBU.
• A significant number of courses involve experiential learning units, such as our festivals course (FOLK 3603), which involves attending and analyzing the Celtic Colours International Festival, and our ethnography course (FOLK 2114), which requires producing a unique ethnographic project.

From the soothing sounds of our singing shores, to the everlasting beat of our vibrant culture, Cape Breton holds music close to its heart.

Build your skills for a solid foundation in music and carve your own path, wherever the tempo takes you. Our BACS music major is the only undergraduate program in Canada to focus on traditional and tradition-based popular music, with particular emphasis on Cape Breton’s rich music traditions.

Students learn about music career options, develop a career network and gain valuable work experience through courses such as Understanding the Music Industry, and Arts Entrepreneurship, as well as our Archival Internship and work placements.

Our music offerings focus on three broad areas: Atlantic Canadian cultures and traditions; popular music; and the study of global traditions (e.g., West African, Eastern European, etc.) through ethnomusicology and folklore approaches.

In all of our program options, we offer a variety of courses, including courses in performance, music theory and composition, genre surveys and histories, issues (e.g., protest, cultural tourism), research methods and business.
What skills will I gain from this program?

• Awareness and appreciation of music from around the world
• Greater understanding of music’s roles and functions in society
• Ability to analyze music
• Improved ability to perform
• Knowledge of the music industry

Why study at CBU?
As a music student at CBU, you’ll be excited to learn some of Cape Breton’s best-known traditional musicians teach here, including popular local artists such as Kyle MacNeil of the Barra MacNeils. That means you’ll be taught by experienced instructors who are both accessible and approachable, which makes a major difference in the intricate world of music.

Our music program uniquely ties together liberal arts courses, performance classes, work placements and community learning to create a truly well-rounded experience. Join students from around the world in one of the most breathtaking locations on the planet, in harmony, as you realize your true potential in music.

Cape Breton is known for its musical traditions. As one of the most celebrated cultural regions in the country, we offer courses that introduce students to a variety of music. From local traditions to music from around the world, popular music to classical music, students learn to analyze the music they love in order to see how it works.

Now, more than ever, Canada’s health care system needs strong, compassionate and capable leaders. By studying CBU’s Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Health Care Management, the only of its kind in the Maritimes, you’ll learn the essential skills and aspects of managing and leading a health care unit successfully and efficiently.

In a climate of rising costs and tighter budgets, health care units are in the continual process of adapting, innovating and reinventing themselves. Health care organizations are looking for employees who are knowledgeable of policy and quality of service directives and, at the same time, have the skills to manage people, resources, innovation and costs. The comprehensive curriculum of this program allows students to learn essential aspects of managing a health care unit, including accounting, statistics, analytics, organizational behavior and more, all within a culturally respectful environment.

This program is for domestic or international students who have an undergraduate degree, and wish to pursue supervisory careers in the field of health care. Or, for those students wishing to gain a foundational knowledge of management prior to pursuing a Master’s degree.

What skills will I gain from this program?

• Understand the effect of external environments (political, legal, market, sector) on the management of health care organizations
• Use data analytics tools and techniques to make strategic decisions, support operational goals and maximize resources
• Understand and respect the diverse beliefs, values and health care needs of the community, including Indigenous health care priorities, barriers and needs
• Ability to integrate technical knowledge of management, incorporating theoretical and ethical concepts in managing people, operations and finances

Experiential Learning Opportunities
Choice of completing a 12-week internship placement within an organization Or, completing a capstone project where students are supervised and closely mentored by their professors, having the opportunity to apply skills to a business project.

Today’s world is in constant flux, and not only are gender studies no different, they can often be at the centre of our major cultural issues. Every day, unique stories emerge in our lives, from gender politics to gender and economics, that can impact the way we work and live.

Our minor in Gender and Women’s Studies gives students the opportunity to study a full range of human experiences and arrangements of social organization. We offer a comprehensive curriculum to help process the issues we face as a society, which can provide lessons needed for life in a modern, multicultural and diversified culture.

This program prepares students with the skills to manage, nurture and shape society through a critical understanding of leadership and responsible action. We examine alternative institutional arrangements that will help students cope with an increasingly diverse workplace, as well as with the combination of work and family responsibilities.

What skills will I gain from this program?

• Knowledge of complex social problems
• Understanding of gender differences
• Critical comprehension of key texts
• Ability to analyze gender issues

Why study at CBU?

• Picture a place where a completely unique collective of people with a passion for learning all come together to make their world a better place.
• That place is Cape Breton University.
• Here, you can study multiple disciplines within the Gender and Women’s Studies program and develop a solid foundation with skills for the real world. Through a continual sharpening of widely useful analytical skills, our accessible faculty teach you to think critically about the production of knowledge. We also emphasize undergraduate student research to help you get the best start possible when you begin your career.

An overlooked factor behind most of the world’s major projects and industries is the ability to time and control how technology is applied in a dynamic setting. At CBU, you can study a technologically advanced approach to electronics and controls. Electronics and controls at CBU focuses on electrical engineering, analog and digital design, microelectronics and industrial systems.

Instrumentation, electronics and controls courses combine theoretical principles with hands-on experience and technical expertise related to electronics, instrumentation and microprocessor control. Aspects unique to electrical technology are emphasized, including topics such as analog/digital design, industrial instrumentation, control and microelectronics.

What skills will I gain from this program?

• Electronics and instrumentation.
• Exposure to industrial applications, drawings and standards.
• Programming using assembly, MATLAB, VHLD, and PLC languages.
• Methods of design.
• Electrical troubleshooting.

Special collaborations happen here at Cape Breton University between students and faculty from completely different backgrounds, cultures and societies through courses that are reflective of the diverse world in which we live. Students who graduate from CBU do so with the confidence and flexibility they need to have an edge in the job market or find success in continued graduate studies.

At CBU, you will build the skills you actually need within the field of sociology. Sociology considers the factors driving relationships that exist in society by looking at the social and historical contexts that frame those experiences. Sociologists study the interactions of our social lives by examining their formations in socialization activities.

Sociology is considered a teachable subject by the Nova Scotia Department of Education.

What skills will I gain from this program?

• Ability to conduct thorough research
• Skills to analyze complex social interactions
• Critical thinking skills
• Ability to gather and analyze data sets

Why study at CBU?
Here on Cape Breton Island, our rich history and famous landscapes have carved out a home for some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet. Some of the best food you’ll ever taste. And certainly some of the best times you’ll ever have. It’s a great place to call home, and an even better place to study.

Our sociology courses are taught by accessible faculty with diverse research backgrounds in areas of sociology of family, gender, identity and sexuality, feminist theory, queer theory, critical pedagogy, environmental sociology, deviance, green criminology, animals and people, consumption and consumerism, qualitative research methods, sociology of home and statistical analysis. This diverse selection of topic areas provides students with a distinctive mix of subjects in their coursework all while providing a unified approach to sociological theory.

With modern facilities and a diverse campus filled with lifelong friends waiting to meet you, CBU is a place where you can truly build a sustainable future.

When it comes to the prosperity of a business, nothing is more important than a solid financial foundation. Finance is a body of concepts, principles and theories dealing with making strategic investment acquisitions, and identifying where the firm will get the long-term capital to finance the strategic investments.

Finance courses explore the day-to-day operations of a firm and examines how to ensure the business is successful.

Everyone has to deal with money. Finance takes a closer look at this dynamic by studying the management of money for individuals, companies and governments. Topics in world capital markets, investments in real and financial assets and the world of international finance are covered.

What skills will I gain from this program?

• Acquire the ability to make sound financial decisions that will maximize the value of a business.
• Learn to effectively manage money to provide growth in investments.
• Understand the time value of money and how to use the concept to make sound financial decisions.
• Learn to help a firm raise capital to foster growth.
• Acquire the knowledge needed to make sound strategic decisions to ensure a successful business.

Why study at CBU?
A finance concentration at CBU will prepare students for many careers in the financial services industry and in other related fields. The skills and concepts learned include the ability to make sound financial decisions and will lead the way to achieve a successful work-life environment.

The scope of finance is broad. Finance courses at CBU explore the full spectrum, from corporate finance, personal finance, investments, capital market theory, financial markets and international finance. Courses in accounting and economics are also ideal for a concentration in finance.