Graduate Program

The Department of Politics at Acadia University offers a Masters of Arts (M.A.) programme in a variety of subject fields, to a relatively small, and typically collegial cadre of students each year. These students are drawn from the region, from Canada more widely, and from outside Canada. The programme prepares students for work in the public and private sector, in the areas of journalism, advocacy, international development and organization, education, and law. As well, it provides a solid grounding for those students who move on to further studies at the Ph.D. level. Many of our recent graduates have moved on to highly regarded doctoral programmes in Canada and the U.K. The programme features a close relationship between masters students and senior honours students, low student/faculty supervisory loads, the potential for some course work from sister departments such as history and sociology, and an inter-disciplinary orientation to student life.

For students interested in political theory, in addition to the MA in Politics, Acadia also offers an interdisciplinary MA programme in Social and Political Thought.  For more info see http://spt.acadiau.ca

Graduate teaching assistantships (currently $10 000 max) are offered to students on a competitive basis. 

Acadia provides an opportunity to work within a richly computer-assisted campus of learning and teaching innovation.  nbsp]Acadia has adopted an undergraduate programme in which all students are provided a laptop computer of considerable software facility. Graduate students who serve as teaching assistants develop skills in seminar discussion and/or computer assisted pedagogy.

Attractive to many students is the scale of both the university and town, providing some of the virtues of small-scaled, yet richly diverse and tolerant democratic life. Wolfville is a charming community set in one of the country's most beautiful and bountiful valleys. The town of Wolfville is situated by the highest tides in the world, in the Bay of Fundy, and near one of Canada's significant historic sites; Grand Pré.  The Town of Wolfville provides a manageable context for writing and intellectual work, yet is close to one of the burgeoning urban centres in Canada, as it is less than an hours drive from Halifax.

Application Procedure
Information regarding MA application procedures and the programme is available by telephoning 902-585-1349 or emailing rachel.brickner@acadiau.ca.
Application forms are available online here.

Admission Requirements
The current effective threshold for admission is a Bachelor of Arts with Honours Degree in Politics, with a minimum GPA of 3.5 in the last two years. We occasionally admit candidates with a major in Politics or degrees in other disciplines, however, we may require coursework in Political Science prior to admission to the MA depending upon the actual qualifications of individual candidates (and their equivalence to Political Science).

Your application must include:

three letters of reference
curriculum vitae
undergraduate university transcript
sample of your recent written work
general statement of your proposed thesis research
application fees as required by Acadia University
Foreign students must also take the Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL) and achieve a minimum score of 580 (paper) or a computer- based score of 237.
The department begins to evaluate applications for admission in February.

Fellowship Awards
All completed applications will be considered for funding. Acadia University currently awards fellowships up to a maximum of $9,000. Holders of awards are asked to assist faculty members with teaching and research (for no more than six hours per week).

Department Objectives
-To prepare the student for further work in political science at the Ph.D. level.
-To offer instruction in competing approaches to the study of politics and government.
-To develop the skills of oral, written, and computer-facilitated presentation.
-To develop the analytical, critical and interpretative skills of students as these skills are related to work in the private and public sector.
-To support the writing of high quality masters theses in Politics.

Programme of Study
Students are required successfully to complete 6 one-term courses, chosen in consultation with the department. One such course, the "masters" seminar, is required. This seminar surveys the intellectual bases for a wide variety of approaches to the study of politics and government, while offering students an opportunity to defend their thesis proposal. Students offer a Masters Thesis in an area of study determined by consultation with a thesis supervisor, and defend their thesis before a committee, which includes an examiner from a department in the Atlantic Region. MA students usually complete their programme in 12 months.

Course Requirements 
Total hours required: 30

• 5143 Master's Seminar (3h)
• Five courses from among POLS 5103, 5203, 5193, 5293, 5303, 5343, 5443, 5183, 5283, 5543, 5643, 5743, 5843 (15h)
• 5960 Thesis (12h)

Not all courses are offered every year. Timetable is available from Rachel Brickner, our graduate co-ordinator, in late August.

Students may take courses from a cognate department with approval.

Please note:  The University pays for the binding of ONE copy of your thesis which is kept in the University Library.  If you wish to have copies bound for yourself and the department (for future students to look at), you can arrange to pay for binding by getting in touch with:

Wallaceburg Bookbinding & Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

PO Box 104

Wallaceburg ON

N8A 4L5

519 627-3552