Bachelor of Arts in Women and Gender Studies

at St. Francis Xavier University Canada

The International Business (IB) program is an interdisciplinary business program to which almost all other streams in the Schwartz School of Business contribute, collectively preparing future graduates with knowledge and skills needed to succeed in an international business environment. International business activities are providing significant opportunities for businesses of any size and industry that may export, import or have international operations. Prospective employers seeking candidates with a global perspective and awareness of international business responsibilities, combined with critical thinking, language and communications skills, will be welcoming graduates with a specialization in this field.

Courses cover a variety of topics related to international business, including:

    • globalization
    • international trade theory
    • global monetary system and financing
    • global business strategies
    • managing a global workforce
    • marketing internationally
    • international business ethics

Students in the IB courses will be exposed to engaging methods of instruction that include case analyses, presentations and guest lectures, simulated cross-cultural business meetings, multi-country analysis from an international business and cross-cultural perspective and more.

The program offers cross-cultural immersion experiences provided by StFX and our exchange partners. Students pursuing the advanced major or honours degree path are required to spend at least one term as an exchange student with one of our partner universities offering business courses. A complete list of exchange opportunities is available through the International Exchange office at StFX, linked here. The minimum one term exchange may be substituted by a minimum 3 month work placement with a company outside of Canada through the Co-op Program offered at StFX. In addition, students completing an advanced major or honours degree are required either to demonstrate that they are fluent in a second language or to take a 12 credit language pair. Students completing a major in IB do not need to complete either the exchange or the language requirement, yet are encouraged to consider both options.

Students who want to pursue a career in international business may want to consider earning the industry-recognized Certified International Trade Professional designation offered by FITT, the Forum for International Trade Training.

Catholic Studies at StFX is a program that uses courses in art, history, literary studies, religious studies, philosophy and the social sciences to provide you with a wider perspective on the influences of Catholicism in world culture and history as well as on moral and spiritual life. The program emphasizes the significant contribution of Catholicism to the arts, sciences, society, human fulfillment and the overall human condition. Catholic Studies courses are for anybody who wants to have an informed, adult-level understanding of the Catholic Church's beliefs, traditions, and contributions to contemporary culture.

WHY STUDY CATHOLIC STUDIES AT STFX?
The program offers an intimate learning environment in which you explore some of the most challenging and valuable themes of human existence drawing on the insights of the Catholic Christian religion, such as human nature, the necessity of grace, and the compatibility of faith, reason and freedom. Your professors are accomplished scholars. Combine that with small class sizes and you are guaranteed to be included in intellectually inspried discussions.

Through hands-on learning in the classroom and field, in the StFX Earth Sciences Department, will help you follow your passion to learn about the natural processes that have shaped Earth’s evolution for over 4.6 billion years, and continues to influences its modern environment.

Earth sciences uses physical, chemical, biological, and mathematical methods to study the Earth’s materials, behaviour, history and environment.

You will study fascinating field topics such as the origin of the majestic Rocky Mountains, the life and death of dinosaurs, climate change and greenhouse gases, and the origin and evolution of the oceans.

WHY STUDY EARTH SCIENCES AT STFX?
Often, the most important learning takes place in the field, where studies bridge the gap between textbook descriptions and actual occurrences. The StFX Earth Sciences Department has a natural laboratory just steps away, where over 620 million years of geological history are exposed for study, and where you can access ecosystems from soaring hardwood forest, to tundra, to coastal estuary.  

As one of the most research-intensive departments on campus, you will have abundant opportunity to work one-on-one with professors on cutting edge research projects that are regional, national, and international in scope.

If you have a passion for the environment, and want to learn more about aquatic resources and sustainability, explore Aquatic Resources at StFX. Within this program, you’ll study aquatic life, climate change, policy and the complexity of human­ ecosystem interactions, all related to our most precious resource - water.

WHY STUDY AQUATIC RESOURCES AT STFX?
StFX is located next to Canada’s rugged Atlantic coastline, so you’ll have plenty of opportunity for hands-­on research exploring freshwater and marine resources first­-hand. It's this research that will give you invaluable experience — a distinct advantage in whatever you choose to do next!  In addition, you’ll develop and hone skills in oral and written communications, organization, and technical abilities like maintaining lab equipment, quality control and safety procedures.

Development Studies at StFX is a program for those wishing to understand how different ideas about development influence socio-economic well-being and environmental sustainability, as well as how to engage with these issues both locally and internationally.

WHY STUDY DEVELOPMENT STUDIES AT STFX?
The StFX Development Studies Program grows out of the rich tradition of the Antigonish Movement, a social movement grounded in community-based social and economic development. You will work with faculty members and with development professionals from the Coady International Institute. You will meet community leaders from Africa, Asia and Latin America enrolled in programs at the Coady, which for over 50 years has been promoting community self-reliance through education programs for such leaders.

You will have opportunity for real-world experience through service learning placements in the local community. You could undertake a 3-4 month internship in Canada or elsewhere in the world. This combination of academic courses and hands-on experience provides you with the means to make your own contribution to local and international efforts to solve development problems, reduce inequalities and change our world for the better.

As a pioneer in jazz education in Canada, StFX Music is a community where you can expand your creativity as you become a skilled and literate musician in jazz and popular music.

At StFX, you will receive individual attention from some of Canada’s leading music educators in studio, classroom and rehearsal environments, honing your jazz instrumental (or vocal) performance and compositional skills.

MUSIC AT X
As a student in the StFX Music Department, you have close contact, including direct face-to-face private sessions, with talented and passionate music faculty. This incredible resource creates community as faculty get to know you and mentor your talents. Additionally, opportunities to perform with faculty members is an ideal way to learn and stretch your horizons.

Peer-to-peer learning with fellow students in performances and practice rooms is another hallmark of the continuous learning environment.

The Visiting Artist Program brings internationally-known performers to campus for clinics, concerts and workshops, giving students exposure to learn from the world’s best jazz musicians.

Mathematics is the science of structure, order and relation. It deals with logical quantitative reasoning. Statistics is the science and art of data collection and analysis. It deals with estimation, hypothesis testing and decision making. At StFX, you may undertake studies that focus on either or both fields.

WHY STUDY MATH And STATISTICS AT STFX?
With small class sizes and a personal environment that maximizes individual attention, as a StFX Mathematics and Statistics student, you will be well educated for further success in graduate studies, education programs and industry.

The MACS program is a course-based Masters (full-time) completed over a period of a 16 months or 2 years of full-time study. It is open to students with an undergraduate major in Computer Science, or the equivalent combination of courses. Students have flexibility to select from numerous elective courses to design a Master’s program that meets their professional interests and aspirations. Students will also have the option to complete an elective, project-based course in a workplace environment or a co-operative education option. The Department also offers a thesis- based, research-intensive Master’s in Computer Science. 

Why Computer Science at STFX?
StFX’s Computer Science program is recognized as the top ranked program in Atlantic Canada (Maclean’s Magazine October 2019). It has earned its ranking in part due to the department’s field-weighted citation impact index rank, a measure of research output, for which the group is ranked first in the country. In the Master of Applied Computer Science program, students take advanced courses that will equip them well for working in industry. As well as the course-based program, the department offers a thesis-based Master of Science in Computer Science and undergraduate programs, which contribute to a lively community of computer scientists working and studying together.

Experiential Learning
One of the cornerstones of this program is the opportunity provided to students to engage in experiential learning, which will help build confidence and gain experience in the field prior to entering the workforce. The program is structured so that real-world problems are embedded throughout the program (in the Computer Science Graduate Seminar course and throughout the elective courses). Additionally, students have the opportunity to complete CSCI 591–Project, providing real-life software development experience by applying classroom learning in a real work context. In CSCI 591, students work with an industry or academic partner and develop a computing a solution to a real-world problem. Students are responsible to manage the project from development to execution to presentation to the client and final review.

Co-op Option
Students in the MACS program can apply to complete Co-operative Education (Co-op). Co-op offers paid work experience for students interested in developing a career in various areas within computer science fields and also integrate work experience in their field of interest within their academic studies while earning 6 credits towards their MACS. Students complete professional development seminars and workshops offered through the Co-op department prior to work term placement. This will prepare students to be professional, committed for the challenges of work term placements, and ensure that good relations with employers are fostered, right from the start. Students can apply to Co-op during their first semester of the MACS program. Space is limited.

As the only university in North America offering four years of Scottish Gaelic, and one of the few universities offering the study of Celtic languages, literature and history of the Celts from about 800 BC to present, you will have unique opportunity to learn in this broad field.

Celtic Studies has as its core the languages, literatures, and histories of Celtic-speaking peoples, from the Continental Celts of ancient Gaul to the modern survivals in Scotland, Ireland, the island of Man, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. It extends into a range of topics, including archaeology, art, music, literature, folklore, religion, dance, immigration and ethnic studies.

Why study Celtic Studies at StFX?
Situated in the Highland Heart of Nova Scotia, you will study in a department where the working language is Scottish Gaelic, and where a wide variety of courses are offered in Celtic civilization and in the Gaelic folklore of Ireland and Scotland. You’ll learn from faculty who are leading researchers in the history, language and literature of Gaelic communities in North America and Scotland.

StFX undergraduate and masters students produce research papers and dissertations, and creative projects, such as audio and video recordings. They have become leading lights in the revival and development of Gaelic in both Scotland and Canada. The Celtic Student Society (‘An Comunn Ceilteach’) is one of StFX’s most active societies.

StFX is home to the largest and most important collection of Scottish Gaelic manuscripts, publications, and recordings in Canada, particularly in the substantial holdings of the Celtic Collection of the Angus L. Macdonald Library.

Sociologists explore the way human interaction shapes our culture, and employ the ideas of leading social theorists for comprehensive answers. As a StFX Sociology student, you will be introduced to innovative methods of looking at the social world, human behavior and societies.

WHY STUDY SOCIOLOGY AT STFX?
Sociology students are among the most active at StFX, a fact often attributed to the professors who give you the tools you need to ask tough questions, make informed social choices and become personally engaged in change.

You will explore different vantage points and gain access to in-house expertise in areas including social movements, the environment, the various forms of social inequality, and theories concerning racial equality, identity and the self, media and cultural studies, rural sociology, fisheries, criminology, disability studies, deviance, social difference, gender identity and more.