Global Studies
Global Studies at Laurier
Take advantage of the opportunity to travel abroad through the Global Studies Experience (GSE) program. Laurier has exchange agreements with institutions in 27 countries.
Students can add a Research Specialization Option to their degree by completing the GSE requirement, language requirement and meeting a minimum GPA.
Program highlights
- Subsidized international opportunities
More than one third of global studies students either volunteer or study abroad for periods of 4 to 20 weeks. The Department of Global Studies now has more than $40,000 per year to subsidize student learning abroad, with NGOs and at other universities.
- Language requirement
Global Studies students are required to take at least a half credit in a modern language other than English.
- Dynamic Faculty
We’re passionate about teaching. We bring our research into the classroom, challenging students to hone their critical learning skills and to think of themselves as active members of the global community.
- Broad Curriculum
Faculty research interests include human rights, peace and security studies, international development, food studies, humanitarianism, social theory, Islam and Modernity, political ecology, and citizenship studies. Our research is situated in Europe, Africa, South and South East Asia, Central and South America, and the Middle East.
Courses offered
First year
- Intro to Global Studies
- Global Studies - A Case Study
- non-English language course
Popular courses
- Refugees and Diasporas
- Peace building in the Shadow of War
- Nature, Culture and Conflict
- Ethical Encounters
Admission Requirements
Honours BA Global Studies
| 4U Requirements | IB Requirements | Admission Range |
| English at 60% | HL or SL English at 4 |
Mid 70s IB Minimum score: 28 |
Student experience
TK Azaglo decided to move to Waterloo, Ontario, Canada from Ghana, Africa to attend Wilfrid Laurier University. During his four years as an honours student double-majoring in Political Science and Global Studies, Azaglo felt he’d found his place at Laurier.
“In our challenging world of complexities, Global Studies at Laurier serves as an eye-opening experience that moves students beyond the theoretical frameworks and discussions in class.”
During his time in Global Studies, TK was inspired to start an advocacy based club, Future of Africa, participated in a service learning journey to Uganda for 10 weeks, and worked with the Diversity & Equity Office and Laurier’s International Office.
“It is not enough to read, think or talk about the challenging issues of our world. We need to get involved and act for change.”
Faculty experience
In a world where natural disasters and conflict make daily headlines, humanitarian aid and post-disaster reconstruction are becoming increasingly important. For Dr. Alicia Sliwinski, the anthropology of humanitarian assistance is an area of great interest that contains many different levels of meaning and understanding.
Before coming to Laurier in 2006, Sliwinski completed her PHD in social anthropology at the University of Montreal. During her studies, she lived in El Salvador for a year conducting field research. Now she is working on a book exploring the politics of post-disaster reconstruction in El Salvador.
“My research lies at the crossroads of the anthropology of development and humanitarian aid as well as the multidisciplinary fields of development studies and social studies on disaster”, says Sliwinski.
In one of her seminar courses, Sliwinski presents her students with a history of humanitarian assistance that moves from the traditional, Western concepts of charity to more contemporary and international humanitarian action.
“I want to introduce students to cross-cultural understanding of gift-giving,” she says. “This can further enrich our interpretations of humanitarian action.”
Alumni experience
Christine McKinlay is a global studies and religion and culture graduate. “Religion is becoming such a big part of our world now,” she says. “You have to understand how religion is a part of culture and culture is a part of religion to make sense of the world. It’s absolutely fascinating to see what makes people tick.”
McKinlay was a recipient of the Garfield Weston Scholarship, which helped fund her participation in a six-week research seminar in Malawi, where she studied the plight of children in Africa’s AIDS crisis.
After graduating from Laurier, she completed internships with both the International Development Research Centre and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and completed a master’s degree in Immigration and Settlement Studies at Ryerson University were her research focused on refugee scholarship.
