Program Overview

Foundations Program

The Foundations Program offers an interdisciplinary curriculum where students have the opportunity to foster their ideas and follow an academic path they are interested in. Instead of specializing in one area of study, students are exposed to a broader range of concepts and themes. The idea is to be engaged with classmates as opposed to a professor which fosters a democratic atmosphere.

Program Objectives

The Foundations program promotes these four objectives:

• breadth of knowledge
• interdisciplinarity
• critical skills
• acculturation to the university project

Course Information

The Department of Social Science provides 1000 and 2000 level Foundations courses through which students may fulfill their general education requirements.

Program Details

Please note the Foundations program is not a degree program, but a series of first and second year courses for degree programs, such as Criminology or Law and Society at York. The Foundations Program is available to students who have already been admitted to York.

Program History

General Education has "deep roots" at York University and, indeed, was central to the founding vision of the university and consciously connected to what would make York distinct from other post-secondary institutions. York's founding president, Murray Ross, clearly articulated a model of both general and liberal education that would train and produce graduates not only for professional careers but also for local and global engaged citizenship. General education was envisioned as fundamental to this latter goal, with the aim of general education to provide a breadth of study that would give students knowledge of the major disciplines.

In 1996, the Faculty of Arts General Education requirements were re-organized with the introduction of 9.0 credit Foundations courses. Arts students were required to take two of these Foundations courses, one in Humanities and one in Social Science. A Natural Science course also remained part of the general education requirements. In part, this re-organization was instituted to ensure that students were exposed early in their academic careers to the breadth of the liberal arts. In part, Foundations courses-which feature a two-hour lecture and two-hour tutorial- were designed to assist in the acculturation process of transitioning from high school to university.

Courses and Resources

• Find the right courses for your degree requirements, academic interests and career aspirations.
• The Foundations Program provides a variety of training programs and resources for teaching assistants and course directors working in Foundations and General Education courses.