Providing a specialized and prescriptive set of courses for students interested in public policy and public administration, the Major in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration), also known as the PPA, offers students a sequence of opportunities to learn applied public policy skills and engage in practical analysis of public problems.
This program is designed for:
- Students looking to work in professional public policy or administration contexts post-graduation; and
- Students who intend to complete public policy or public administration graduate programs (e.g. MPP or MPA) with the aim of working in government, think tanks, advocacy groups, and beyond.
The PPA program is distinct from our Political Science Major Program in its specificity. Students seeking broad training in Political Theory, International Relations, Comparative Politics, and Canadian Politics in preparation for a vast array of post-graduation pathways, including law, journalism, education, working for non-profits, consulting, graduate school, and more may find our Political Science Major program to be a better fit.
Requirements
Students within the Major in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration) must complete the following courses:
| Course | Credits | Year Typically Taken | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| POLI_V 100 | 3 | 1st | POLI_V 100 serves as a foundational course for the rest of our undergraduate course catalogue. We highly recommend that students take this course before taking POLI courses at a higher level. |
| POLI_V 101 | 3 | 1st | |
| POLI_V 110 | 3 | 1st / 2nd | |
| POLI_V 220 | 3 | 2nd | |
| ECON_V 310 or ECON_V 311 | 3 | 3rd | Knowledge of basic economics concepts is foundational to public policy analysis work, and therefore students will be required to take one introductory economics course. Students will be given the choice to focus on microeconomics (ECON_V 310) or macroeconomics (ECON_V 311), depending on their interests and career objectives. Students who have completed ECON_V 101/102 instead of ECON_V 310/311 must complete an extra three credits of upper-level POLI in addition to the 27 credits of 300-/400-level POLI required by the program. If you are in this position, please notify poli.ugrad@ubc.ca as soon as possible so our Advising Team can make the appropriate edits to your Academic Progress Report. |
| POLI_V 380 | 3 | 3rd | Prerequisite: POLI_V 110 Students will not get credit for both POLI_V 380 and any of the following courses in counting up the required 120 credits needed to graduate: STAT_V 200, 203, BIOL_V 300, COMM_V 312, 291, ECON_V 325, EPSE_V 482, 483, FRST_V 231, GEOG_V 374, KIN_V 371, PSYC_V 218, 366, SOCI_V 328. If one of the mentioned courses is a program requirement for one of your non-POLI specializations (eg. SOCI Major) or you completed one of these courses prior to being accepted into your POLI program, please get in touch with your program advisor to discuss your options. |
| POLI_V 302 | 3 | 3rd | Public Administration: Introduces students to core concepts and theories in public administration (i.e. the structure and dynamics of bureaucracies). |
| POLI_V 350 | 3 | 3rd | Public Policy: Introduces students to key questions public policy studies, including rationales for government intervention, the influence of interest groups and political institutions on policy outcomes, and the various stages in the policy process. |
| Two 300-/400-level PPA-designated courses | 6 | 3rd & 4th | See full course list below. Successful completion of any 400-level POLI course will also fulfill your Arts Research Requirement (a general degree requirement). |
| Four 300-/400-level POLI courses (which may include additional PPA-designated courses) | 12 | 3rd & 4th | |
| Total | 42 |
Seminar Restrictions
Space in our 400-level seminars is extremely limited. Because of this, POLI Majors are permitted to take a maximum of two 400-level POLI seminars during their time at UBC.
Members of our Undergraduate Advising Team regularly check seminar enrolments to ensure that students do not exceed this seminar registration limit. If you have exceeded this limit, a member of our advising team will get in touch with you to better understand why you have structured your schedule in this way and confirm which of your extra seminars can be dropped from your schedule. If you are not responsive to our first or follow-up attempts to reach you, we may reduce the number of seminars on your schedule without your input.
PPA-Designated Courses
The content of the following courses is relevant to public policy or administration:
- POLI_V 303: Federalism in Canada
- POLI_V 304: British Columbia Government and Politics
- POLI_V 308: Topics in Canadian Politics
- POLI_V 328: Topics in Comparative Politics
- Recent course offerings to give sense of policy content:
- Comparative Politics of Immigration
- Political Violence, State Fragility, and State-Building
- Recent course offerings to give sense of policy content:
- POLI_V 338: Politics and Development
- POLI_V 348: Political Theory and Public Policy
- POLI_V 351: Environmental Politics and Policy
- POLI_V 352: Comparative Politics of Public Policy
- POLI_V 363: Canadian Foreign Policy
- POLI_V 366: International Political Economy
- POLI_V 405: Topics in Canadian Politics
- Recent course topic offerings to give sense of policy content:
- Public Opinion and Public Policy
- Urban Governance and Public Policy
- Behavioural Public Policy in Canada
- Natural Resources, Climate Change, Colonial Project of Canada
- Recent course topic offerings to give sense of policy content:
- POLI_V 422: Selected Problems in Comparative Politics
- Recent course topic offerings to give sense of policy content:
- Politics of Economic Inequality
- Recent course topic offerings to give sense of policy content:
- POLI_V 439: Politics and Economic Growth
- POLI_V 450: Policy Analysis
Admission
Students who meet our program entry requirements can self-declare a Major in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration).
Program Entry Requirements
- Enrolled in UBC-V’s Bachelor of Arts program; and
- Have second-year standing or above.
Please follow these steps to join the Major in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration):
- If you have yet to declare a specialization or wish to change your current specialization to the Major in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration), please follow the steps outlined in this Workday tutorial: Declaring or changing your primary major, honours, or specialization.
- Select: B.A., Major in Political Science, Politics, Policy and Administration (Vancouver).
- If you wish to add the Major in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration) to your existing specialization (e.g., a student who wishes to complete the Politics, Policy, and Administration Major alongside their existing Sociology Major), please follow the steps outlined in this Workday tutorial: Adding a program of study (second major or minor).
- Select: Major in Political Science, Politics, Policy and Administration (Vancouver).
- Self-enroll in the Department’s Undergraduate Info Hub, a Canvas course from which we send our monthly undergraduate newsletter, share important program information, and post our advising team’s drop-in advising days/times.
If you meet our program entry requirements and face any difficulty adding the Major in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration) to your student record, please contact our advising team at: poli.ugrad@ubc.ca.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. However, our 100- and 200-level POLI courses are designed to prepare you for the content of our upper-level course catalogue and, in certain cases, are prerequisites for upper-level Major requirements (e.g., you should not take POLI_V 380—one of the main requirements of our Major in Political Science [Politics, Policy, and Administration]—without having first completed POLI_V 110). With this in mind, students who join the Major in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration) without having completed their full set of lower-level requirements should plan to complete these requirements as soon as possible. Tip: If you’re interested in completing any of these requirements over the Summer Session, take a look at our website to see the courses on offer.
Please get in touch with our Advising Team (poli.ugrad@ubc.ca) well in advance of registration/graduation-related deadlines and outline your situation. If we see reason to waive your POLI_V 100 requirement (or any other POLI program requirement) based on your academic history, we will let you know.
To take the vast majority of our 300-level courses, you are required to have third-year standing or to have completed a set number of lower-level POLI_V courses. This is the case even if you are a Major in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration). Please see this page of the Calendar for the specifications for each course. Tip: If you are a second-year Major in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration) who has completed all of POLI_V 100, 101, 110, and 220 and wishes to take a 300-level POLI course that requires students to have completed all of POLI_V 100, 101, 110, and 240 or have third-year standing in order to register, please get in touch with our Advising Team (poli.ugrad@ubc.ca) well in advance of the registration deadline. Because POLI_V 240 is not a requirement for Majors in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration), we will accept POLI_V 220 in lieu of POLI_V 240 in this case and can assign you a registration token for the 300-level course.
Yes, as long as you meet our program entry requirements.
No. You can self-declare the Major in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration) at any point in the year—assuming that you have not applied to graduate.
Yes. As is the case with POLI Majors, Majors in Political Science (Politics, Policy, and Administration) are encouraged and able to participate in UBC’s work-integrated learning programs during their degree. Chief among these is UBC’s Arts Co-op program, for which PPA students will be attractive applicants given that their Major is designed to offer practical skills useful for working in government and non-profits—popular placement locations for Co-op students.
Students must gain admission to UBC Arts Co-op independently. For more information about this process, please see this page.
Tip: To get a sense of what folks can accomplish during their time with Co-op, check out this profile of Michelle Wei (BA’23), a UBC POLI alumna who won the Undergraduate Arts Co-op Student of the Year award in 2022 for her work with the International Humanitarian Assistance branch of Global Affairs Canada.
UBC’s WorkLearn program is also an option for students seeking professional workplace experience. The training from POLI PPA is uniquely preparatory for folks considering careers within UBC’s administration post-graduation.
Your diploma will indicate a Major (“Political Science”). Your official UBC transcript will indicate both a Major (“Political Science”) and an area of focus (“Politics, Policy and Administration”).