Bachelor of Arts - Interdisciplinary Studies

The Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Interdisciplinary Studies is a four-year degree for students who want to build a subject combination that no single-major program offers.

Rather than a fixed sequence, students construct a coherent program across two or three areas — drawing on psychology, sociology, political science, history, philosophy, English, geography, communication, global stewardship and Indigenous studies — anchored by a required methods core and an interdisciplinary capstone. Faculty advising is part of the structure: the combination has to be argued for, not just assembled, and the capstone requires integrating the strands into a single research project.

The honest read on this degree is that its value depends on the student. Built with intent — say communication plus political science for policy work, or psychology plus sociology for social services — it produces a genuinely distinctive graduate profile. Built without a plan, it reads as unfocused to employers. CapU’s small advising ratios are what make the first outcome likely.

Capilano University is a fully public teaching university (DLI O19280078102) holding university status since 2008, and the credential earned here is identical to the one awarded at the North Vancouver main campus — the transcript does not distinguish between campuses. Classes are small, faculty teach rather than delegate to assistants, and tuition sits well below the big Vancouver research universities.

CapU Squamish is an 18-acre purpose-built campus at 3200 University Blvd, opened to serve the Sea-to-Sky corridor — roughly 10 minutes from downtown Squamish, 45 from Whistler and an hour from Vancouver. It has its own library, athletic centre, sports field, dining and student housing on site rather than functioning as an outpost. Cohorts are very small, and housing costs materially less than Metro Vancouver, which is the practical reason many international students choose this campus over the main one.

Its field maps to CIP 30.9999 (Multi/interdisciplinary studies). As a bachelor’s degree, graduates are exempt from the November 2024 PGWP field-of-study restriction and may qualify for a Post-Graduation Work Permit of up to three years. Full-time on-campus study and graduation remain the conditions, and final decisions rest with IRCC.