Bachelor of Arts in Media Production

at Toronto Metropolitan University Canada

The degree consists of a range of required interdisciplinary courses that allow students to focus on those thinkers whose ideas have most deeply affected our society, the courses in the 'Ideas that Shape the World' series. In these courses, students also develop key skills and competencies: the ability to read precisely and critically, to communicate effectively, to develop strategies for life-long learning, to mediate conflict and work in teams, as well as to do analysis and engage in research design. Students may choose an area of concentration from the professional courses from Professional Table I. Nine options are available; four of these options are subject-based and the other five are interdisciplinary.

Subject-Based Options
The subject-based options allow students to combine their interdisciplinary studies with a focus in one of four humanities disciplines:

• English Option – This option provides students with a course of study that focuses on how to read critically—that is, analyze, historicize, and politicize—a wide range of literary and cultural texts. Students examine how such things as genre, form, method, historical period, geography and nation inform narrative media, including works of literature, film, television, digital culture, and the visual arts. Through an engagement with narratives of the past and the present, students develop a critical understanding of contemporary cultural production.
• French Option – This option provides students with the opportunity to gain a specialization in this important linguistic and cultural field. It allows students to develop a better understanding of the culturally diverse populations of the Francophone world in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America, while acquiring critical insights into the important role that French and Francophone culture play both at a national level in this country and in the broader international context.
• History Option – This option offers not only a study of the past, as a way to understand the present, but also a range of skills applicable to many jobs – those which require an understanding of research techniques, analysis, and logic. Each of these is a requirement of historical studies, as students must understand how to collect data, how to analyze it as to accuracy and sufficiency, and how to construct a logical argument from the evidence, if it is judged that there is sufficient evidence to support an argument.
• Philosophy Option – This option provides students with a broad understanding of the main historical trends and contemporary developments within the discipline of philosophy. With its sustained and systematic plan of study in Philosophy, the option has two general objectives. First, it encourages students to read and think about philosophical issues and problems in an active and critical manner. Second, it provides students with an understanding of, and appreciation for, the contributions made by some of the greatest thinkers of the past and present. 

Interdisciplinary Options
The four interdisciplinary options allow students to focus in on one of four themes:

• Anthropology Studies Option - This option examines the study of anthropology in its attempts to understand the human experience, past and present, using holistic, comparative, and field based evolutionary perspectives and practices. Students will earn a strong base in anthropological history, theory and methods as well as acquire important skills allowing them to conduct research and analysis in the mode of an anthropologist, examining and interpreting the immediate world around them.
• Culture Studies Option – Students examine the forms of cultural expression that have become a measure of who we are and who we dream of becoming. They explore cultural identity through both high culture and popular entertainment.
• Diversity and Equity Studies Option – Our diverse and politically charged social space is the focus of this interdisciplinary option. It explores the encounters of language, perspective and value that shape contemporary politics, culture and society.
• Global Studies Option – This option explores the often volatile mix of global issues and perspectives, environmental concerns and corporate interests that drive contemporary society and culture at a time when global transformations are transcending political boundaries.
• Inquiry and Invention Option – This option explores the institutions and ideas that generate – and depend on – scientific discovery and technological innovation. The focus is on ways in which science and technology influence our lives, individually and as a society, in the 21st century. 

Students will also select courses in professionally-related areas such as Criminology, Curatorial Studies, Economics, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Film Studies, Finance, Human Resources Management, Information Systems and Telecommunications Management, Law, Marketing, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Management, Politics, Professional Communication, Psychology, Sociology, and Visual Cultures. Students can pursue a Minor in some of these areas if desired.

This unique program combines the intellectual agility and other benefits of a liberal arts education with the hands-on, applied skills and competencies in areas critical to career flexibility in the 21st century. The option of pursuing one or more complementary Minors in professionally-related areas will round out and equip the graduate for success and mobility through a wide range of private and public career choices.

The goals of the program are: to offer a context in which students can explore the nature of change and the theories about change in order to analyze it, understand it, anticipate it, plan it, and precipitate it. The program allows students:

• To examine types of communication, including spoken, cultural, and computer languages, to study the relationship between economic, political and cultural groups, and to explore the great humanist and scientific ideas that have shaped the modern world.
• To develop competencies in basic qualitative and quantitative research skills, cognitive skills such as critical thinking and ethics analysis, and interpersonal skills such as conflict resolution and negotiation.
• To develop the literacy skills of oral and written language, methodologies of textual analysis and contextual knowledge, digital literacy skills that involve understanding of and training in the digital (or computer) world and its impact on our society, and numeracy skills involving an understanding of numbers and statistics and their impact on the way society does things.
• To educate students in the meanings that societies attach to themselves depending on differing cultural points of view.
• To develop a capacity for imaginative, critical, and ethical thinking that provides the foundation for professional and business activity through a study of the humanities and social sciences that focuses on the dynamics of cultural and technological change within diverse, evolving cultural and linguistic parameters.

Graduates of this four-year interdisciplinary program will be prepared for career opportunities in art and cultural advocacy, event planning and organization, equity advising in human resources, career consultancy, mediation, policy development and analysis, marketing, producing and criticism in culture and entertainment.

The baccalaureate degree program prepares graduates to be eligible to apply for registration as midwives in Ontario, and meets recognized national and international standards. Graduates work as registered health-care professionals who provide primary care to people with low-risk pregnancies, conduct births in home, birth centre and hospital settings, and provide care after birth for the birthing parent and their babies up to six weeks of age.

The Midwifery Education Program prepares graduates to engage in lifelong learning. Working as a midwife requires a keen intelligence combined with flexibility and compassion. Midwives need a thorough understanding of normal and complex conditions affecting pregnancy, birth and the postpartum care of the birthing parent and the newborn and at times may need to make clinical judgements under stressful or emergency situations.

The Midwifery Education Program equips students with the clinical and communication skills needed to work effectively and competently as primary maternity care providers. Students learn critical thinking and problem solving skills, how to apply research evidence to provide high quality care, and develop an understanding of the relevance of cross-cultural issues to midwifery work. The Midwifery Education Program sees its role in education and in the midwifery profession as part of a broader commitment to social justice.

Students will learn to evaluate and analyze political decisions, administrative practice, and policies that emerge from a variety of sources, and to evaluate them on a range of criteria, including empirical, theoretical and ethical bases. The program offers a number of professional electives drawn from five traditional sub fields of Political Science: Canadian, Comparative, Global, Policy, and Theory. Students may choose depth in a small number of thematic categories, or choose breadth by sampling in several such categories.

Curriculum Information
Politics and Governance draws on the theories, methods and practices of a broad range of Social Sciences and Humanities disciplines. The Politics and Governance program thus builds on a first year that is common to eight other programs in the Faculty of Arts (i.e., Criminology, English, Environment and Urban Sustainability, Geographic Analysis, History, Language and Intercultural Relations, Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology), with specialized study in Politics and Governance in the following years.

Semesters One and Two: Students are introduced to Politics and Governance through a 'survey course' which provides a broad overview of what might be expected in the subject area. Students also take one additional core course that explores Canada's political landscape through the lens of political culture and citizen participation. In addition to these two Politics and Governance courses, students must complete two courses teaching key skills in Critical Thinking and Academic Writing and Research. Finally, students select two or three courses from other social science disciplines (course prefixes CRM, ECN, EUS, GEO, PSY, SOC, SSH); two or three courses from humanities disciplines (course prefixes ACS, ENG, FRE, PHL, SPN); and one course from outside the Faculty of Arts.

Semesters Three and Four: In second year, students are required to complete the introductory course in each of five sub-fields, exploring the actors and institutions of Canadian government, the emerging institutions and practices of global governance, controversial policy topics, western political thought, and comparative politics. In addition, students will delve into the qualitative and quantitative research methods necessary to study politics and governance effectively.

Semesters Five through Eight: In the upper years, students complete the remaining two introductory courses (Nonprofit/Voluntary Sector, Social Identity and Citizenship), and then pursue the study of political and governance issues in greater depth. Students may choose to focus upon courses within one or two of the thematic categories subfields or to sample broadly from several such categories. Either way, it will be possible to explore such topics as provincial politics; race and ethnicity; human rights (both within Canada and in a Global context); economic, education, environmental, foreign, and social policy; the governance of urban areas (both in Canada and elsewhere); political thought; voters, elections, and parties; and Indigenous Governance and Justice. In addition to program courses, students choose courses from a broad range of disciplines that complement their professional studies and broaden their career preparation. These include courses in Accounting, Child and Youth Care, Communication, Criminology, Disability Studies, Economics, English, Entrepreneurship and Strategy, Finance, Food Security, French, Geography, Human Resource Management, Business Technology Management, Law, nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Management, Organizational Leadership, Sociology, Spanish, Psychology, Urban Planning, and sciences such as Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics.

The combination of intensive practical training and academic university theory truly distinguishes Ryerson’s Performance programs. While learning to achieve their professional goals, students gain a well-rounded education in the humanities and liberal arts. They develop valuable skills in problem solving, adaptability, critical thinking, research, and communication. These skills are essential for success in the current arts and cultural industry and they enrich all facets of the student’s life.

The four-year Acting and Dance programs offer an intensive conservatory approach in performance complemented by academics which are a crucial part of the program curriculum. Actors and dancers spend a portion of each day in the studio, and each year brings fresh opportunities to perform in productions of original, innovative and established works. The program trains performers who are distinguished by their capacity to generate original artistic material and their ability to bring a rich mixture of skills into the multi-disciplinary environment. Graduates of the program will be ready for immediate entry into a wide range of performance-related careers and for future professional growth.

The Program of Study
The Performance program challenges students with creative study, critical analysis, and exciting traditional and innovative areas of application for their performance skill development.

In the tradition of all Ryerson programming, the program offers a very strong conservatory perspective to the theoretical exploration of dance or acting. There is a wide variety of practical/studio work, active learning projects, and performance-related assignments. Everyone has the opportunity to perform under the guidance of working professionals who are leaders in the artistic community.

The Core Years - Dance
Throughout the four years of study, the Dance Program offers intensive professional training with daily dance classes in ballet, jazz, modern and contemporary dance. It is designed to develop versatile dance professionals prepared for immediate entry into the performance industry, arts education, and multi-media entertainment.

Well-known, experienced choreographers are invited to create, stage, and rehearse their works for annual fully produced mainstage presentations, open to the public. There is also an annual choreographic workshop featuring the students’ own original creations.

The first two years introduce the fundamentals of theatre performance including courses in Improvisation, Anatomy of Movement and Lifestyle, Time-lines of Performance History, Performance Arts in Canada, The Rudiments of Music, a Dance History, and the Basics of Theatrical Production and Creative Performance. Through these foundation courses, students learn to critically approach their work, to develop an entrepreneurial initiative, and to find joy in the creative process.

In the third and fourth years, students may further refine their career goals through professional and professionally related electives. Students may choose to focus on Business and Marketing oriented courses such as Entrepreneurship and New Venture Startup. Electives are also available in the more traditional theatrical applications of Film, Dance Pedagogy, Audition preparation, Acting, Staging the Theatrical Production, Musical Theatre Repertoire, Dance Criticism and many other courses.

First Year: The BSc (Hons) in Chemistry shares a point of entry with the programs in Biology and Medical Physics. This allows students to explore various science-based routes to degree completion before they commit to the Chemistry program. In addition to foundation courses, the first year of studies will include an introduction to the use of computers as scientific tools, and an orientation course that will support students in making a successful transition to university and planning their steps to degree completion. All students in Science programs must enroll in SCI 180 in their first semester of studies.

Upper Years: Because this is a strongly applications-oriented program, a large proportion of student learning will take place in the laboratory. Lab hours account for a significant amount of learning time in every semester, supported by a solid grounding in the theory and principles of chemical science. In the upper years of the curriculum, students will focus on developing their technological expertise and exploring the research and industrial applications of chemical science. Depending on the course sequence selected they may pursue a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry, Chemistry with a Biology Minor, Chemistry with an option in Applied Physics.

First Year: The BSc (Hons) in Biology shares a point of entry with the programs in Chemistry and Medical Physics, through which new science students at Ryerson complete a common first year. This allows students to explore various science-based routes to degree completion before they commit to the Biology program. In addition to science foundation courses, the first year of studies will include an introduction to the use of computers as scientific tools, and an orientation course that will support students in making a successful transition to university and planning their steps to degree completion. Students in Science programs must enroll in SCI 180 in their first semester of studies.

Upper Years: In the upper years of the curriculum, students will focus on developing their technological expertise and exploring the research and industrial applications of biological science. Depending on the course sequence selected, students may pursue a BSc (Hons) in Biology, with a Minor, and with an Option in Biophysics, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology or Environmental Biology. In the final year, they will consolidate their learning by undertaking an independent, faculty-supervised thesis project in their field of academic focus.

The Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management offers an integrated and balanced program of applied education for the development of future managers and leaders in the Canadian and International hospitality and tourism industries.

Optional Co-Operative
The School also offers an optional co-op program which provides graduates with 16 months of work experience integrated into their academic program.

Students wishing to be considered for this program must apply for admission into the co-op option after their second semester of the program. Admission into the co-op program is based on the following three items:

• Recommended CGPA of 2.80 (or higher), subject to competition; grades above 2.8 may be required
• Evidence of superior oral and written communication skills with the submission of an essay outlining their achievements and how they would benefit from the Co-op program
• Interview with the Faculty Advisor

Students commence work terms upon completion of second year of the program and the co-op program extends the HTM program to five years from four. The School cannot guarantee work term jobs, but the Business Career Hub and the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management will prospect for employers and make every effort to locate suitable positions, as well as be available to advise students on their search for program-related jobs. The co-op program enables students to earn prevailing wages for the level of responsibility and contribution of the jobs they perform and thus finance at least part of their university education.

Located in the heart of Canada’s Financial District, the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) welcomes approximately 400 students each fall. The Ted Rogers School of Management has consistently provided top-notch accounting and finance course offerings to their students, and the School of Accounting and Finance continues to hold itself to a standard of excellence.

Accounting and Finance classes have long been an important part of the Ted Rogers School of Management. With the creation of a separate school, we are better able to hone the skills required of accounting and finance professionals in today’s ever-changing business world.

We are excited to be the only separate School of Accounting and Finance in the heart of Canada’s Financial Sector, and can’t wait to see the great things our graduates will do in the future. Together, we will continue to make sure that the accounting and finance graduates from the Ted Rogers School of Management are second to none.

The Business Management program provides students with a specialization in their chosen vocation, a practical and comprehensive knowledge of all basic functions of business, an awareness of social, political, and economic issues facing contemporary society, a questioning attitude to encourage and assist change, an ability to employ analytical skills for decision-making, and a desire to continue to learn and develop. It is considered important that all students in the Business Management program demonstrate an ability to write in clear and correct English. A lack of competence in written work submitted may be reflected in the final grade. Further development of writing and communication skills can be obtained through the elective English and Communication courses.

The first two semesters are common to all students. The curriculum provides students with a general overview of business in society, introduces them to all the basic business functions, and develops their awareness of social, human and economic issues through the introduction of the liberal studies.

In third-semester students enter their major in one of: Economics and Management Science, Entrepreneurship, Global Management, Human Resources Management, Law and Business, Marketing Management or Real Estate Management. The Marketing Management Major has a specific entrance requirement which is outlined within the curriculum. In addition, students continue studies in general business courses and the liberal studies area to broaden their perspective. The major started in the third semester is continued throughout the program.

The Marketing Department in the Ted Rogers School of Business Management co-ordinates an interdisciplinary Minor in Sales Management and Service Quality. This Minor provides students with the knowledge, skills and tools to manage customer relationships and to work effectively as a member of a sales team.

A limited number of students who have completed a three-year Business Administration diploma program with a minimum 'B' average from a recognized Community College, are admitted each year. These students are usually approved directly into the third year of the program. This opportunity is available on either a full- or part-time basis.

Experience has shown that our graduates are well-equipped to offer valuable services to the business community. Many graduates will go into the business world and will find complete satisfaction in their progress to greater responsibilities. The students are not simply learning to react to business pressures. They are prepared to operate pro-actively. Students work in the classroom and on real-life projects, learning how the process of solving problems works. The professors immerse the students thoroughly in their disciplines and then add the dimension of experience making Business education at Ryerson more relevant in the business world.

Optional Co-operative
The Ted Rogers School of Business Management also offers co-op options for each of the seven majors, providing graduates with 16 months of work experience integrated into their academic experience.

Students wishing to be considered for the co-op option can apply for admission as early as the end of the first year of their program. Please be advised that admission deadlines vary by major. Admission is competitive, with the assessment of applicants taking the form of a competition based on academic performance, non-academic requirements, and potential to succeed in co-op work terms.

The four-year baccalaureate degree program in Criminology has as its major focus a critical understanding of the structural, administrative, political and professional context of the criminal justice system and broader agencies associated with social and legal regulation.

Students will learn to question the assumptions behind both administrative practice and policies that emerge from a variety of sources, and to evaluate them on a range of criteria, including the empirical, theoretical, and ethical bases. This will also include an analysis of the influence of race, class, gender, and other forms of social inequality on the administration of criminal justice and broader institutions. The tools to engage constructively with both state and non-state/community responses to crime will be a theme throughout. This will include analyses of events that initiate the criminal process, the various paths through which the criminal cases proceed, the professional roles and responsibilities of workers within that process, prospects of reform and the policies that provide the professional context in which decisions are made.