Associate of Arts Degree
Immerse yourself in different cultures, new perspectives and timely historical insights. Communicate in new ways and dig up answers to long-standing and emerging questions facing today's world.
Develop your critical thinking and research skills with the two-year Associate of Arts Degree, choosing from more than 300 courses in 23 subject areas.
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Campus
- Kelowna
- Vernon
- Penticton
- Salmon Arm
Legend:
- Full program offered
- Partial program offered
Credential
Associate Degree
Delivery options
Full-Time, Part-Time
- International students eligible
Tuition and fees
2022-23: $4,634.66 per year
- Fees listed are for first year (two semesters) for a typical, full-time student taking 10 courses (8 lecture-based courses and 2 course with lab components). Depending on the campus and the courses selected fees may vary.
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Fees include all mandatory fees: Activity fee, Health & Dental, Student Association fee, Education Technology fee, Development fee.
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This program is student loan eligible. View Financial Aid & Awards
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All amounts are approximate and are subject to change.
Program details
In meeting the above requirements, the Associate of Arts Degree can be structured by students to reflect emphasis on a particular discipline from options outlined below. Students are advised to verify with the appropriate Department Chair that the specific course offerings will be offered within a two-year cycle if students intend to complete the Associate Degree in two years.
It is recommended that students use the program outlines below to investigate options for a study emphasis. Also, course planning sheets are available through Education Advising to help you register for the right classes.
There are arguably more career paths from an Associate of Arts/Bachelor of Arts degree than any other field of study, as critical thinking and creativity applies to almost every career.
Arts students go on to meaningful careers in education, law, health, government, social services, publishing, the environment, media, etc.
Regional delivery of studies can differ according to the campus location, both years of study are available at every campus. Some courses are also available by online delivery and distance education and students can combine on campus courses with online and distance courses.
For details on what is offered visit:
For more information, book an appointment with an Education Advisor.
| Campus | Start date | Schedule |
|---|---|---|
| Kelowna | Jan 04, 2023 | |
| Kelowna | May 15, 2023 | Limited course availability through the summer |
| Kelowna | Jul 10, 2023 | Limited course availability through the summer |
| Kelowna | Sep 06, 2023 | |
| Kelowna | Jan 08, 2024 | |
| Penticton | Jan 04, 2023 | |
| Penticton | Sep 06, 2023 | |
| Penticton | Jan 08, 2024 | |
| Salmon Arm | Jan 04, 2023 | |
| Salmon Arm | Sep 06, 2023 | |
| Salmon Arm | Jan 08, 2024 | |
| Vernon | Jan 04, 2023 | |
| Vernon | Sep 06, 2023 | |
| Vernon | Jan 08, 2024 |
Admission requirements
Regular Applicants:
A regular applicant will be a secondary graduate or a secondary school student, or its equivalent, who has or who will complete the requirements for senior secondary graduation, or its equivalent, not less than one month prior to commencement of classes for the semester to which admission is sought - either fall or winter.
The following minimum entrance requirements will apply to regular applicants:
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B.C. secondary graduation, or equivalent.
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English 12 with minimum 60% or alternatives.
Students with a passing grade of less than 60% in English 12, English 12 First Peoples or TPC 12 will be admissible to the first year of the Associate of Arts Degree, subject to the following conditions:
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Registration is restricted to courses for which the student satisfies the prerequisites. Registration in first-year English courses is, therefore, prohibited.
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Successful completion of the English entrance requirements within the first year of studies. This may be done in one of the following ways:
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Successful completion of English 12, English 12 First Peoples or TPC 12 or an equivalent course with a minimum grade of 60%. This may be done concurrently through the College's Adult Basic Education Program or by completing an equivalent course through a distance education program.
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Mature Applicants:
A mature applicant will be at least 19 years of age and will not have attended secondary school on a full-time basis for a minimum period of one year.
Secondary graduation is waived for mature applicants.
The English entrance requirements, as stated above, must be satisfied prior to admission. Admission may be granted on the condition that the entrance requirements will be completed prior to the commencement of classes for the semester to which admission is sought - either fall or winter.
Transfer Students:
Students who transfer to Okanagan College may be eligible for transfer credits towards an Okanagan College Associate of Arts degree, Associate of Science degree or a General Studies diploma for work successfully completed at another recognized institution.
Program outline
The Associate of Arts Degree is granted upon completion of 60 credits of prescribed study (below). Students with an Associate of Arts Degree if admitted to BC universities are guaranteed full transfer credit (60 credits) for the work done for their Associate Degree.
In two B.C. universities (SFU and UNBC), students with an Associate of Arts Degree will be offered priority admission to the Faculty of Arts (subject to a minimum GPA determined by the university). Check the BC Council on Admissions and Transfers website for updated information on BC Associate degrees at http://www.bctransferguide.ca.
Courses used to complete the Okanagan College Associate of Arts Degree must also have transfer credit to one other BC university (Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia, University of Northern British Columbia, University of Victoria).
No course may be used to meet more than one of the specific requirements.
The Associate of Arts Degree is granted upon completion of the following course requirements with a minimum grade average of 60% for all courses counting towards the degree.
Students must complete at least 6 credits from the following courses:
NOTE: Students with credit for ENGL 100 may not take ENGL 199 for further credit. (Students planning to transfer to UBC Vancouver are advised to complete ENGL 199.)
Nine (9) Science credits including three (3) credits of MATH, COSC or STAT and three (3) credits in a lab science course. Of the three (3) credits of lab science and for purposes of the Associate of Arts Degree, students select from the following non-exclusive list, and should be mindful in their program development that not all courses will be offered at every campus in every academic year.
ASTR 110 - Astronomy for the Physical Sciences I
ASTR 112 - Astronomy I
ASTR 120 - Astronomy for the Physical Sciences II
ASTR 121 - Astronomy II
BIOL 111 - Biology for Science Majors I
BIOL 112 - Evolution and Ecology
BIOL 116 - Current Biotechnology Topics for Non-Science Majors
BIOL 121 - Biology for Science Majors II
BIOL 122 - Physiology of Multicellular Organisms
BIOL 131 - Human Anatomy and Physiology I
BIOL 133 - Human Anatomy and Physiology II
CHEM 111 - Principles of Chemistry I
CHEM 112 - Introductory Chemistry I
CHEM 117 - Introduction to Forensic Science
CHEM 121 - Principles of Chemistry II
CHEM 122 - Introductory Chemistry II
EESC 101 - Environmental Science
EESC 111 - Earth and Environmental Science
EESC 121 - Natural History of the Earth
EESC 205 - Geographical Hydrology
EESC 212 - Weather and Climate
EESC 222 - Geomorphology
GEOG 121 - Introduction to Physical Geography: Water & Landscapes
GEOG 205 - Geographical Hydrology
GEOG 212 - Weather and Climate
GEOG 222 - Geomorphology
PHYS 111 - Calculus-Based Physics I
PHYS 112 - Introductory Physics I
PHYS 121 - Calculus-Based Physics II
PHYS 122 - Introductory Physics II
For the three (3) credits of MATH, COSC or STAT and for purposes of the Associate of Arts Degree, students must select from the following:
MATH 111 - Essential Mathematics for Arts
MATH 112 - Calculus I
MATH 120 - Pre-Calculus
MATH 122 - Calculus II
MATH 160 - Mathematics for Elementary Teachers
STAT 121 - Elementary Statistics
STAT 124 - Business Statistics
COSC 111 - Computer Programming I
COSC 121 - Computer Programming II
COSC 122 - Computer Fluency
COSC 180 - Multimedia Computing
SOCI 271 - Statistical Analysis in Sociology I
PSYC 270 - Statistics and Data Analysis
GEOG 270 - Geographic Data Analysis
Students should consult the BCCAT transfer guide and the calendar of their destination institution to determine whether the following two courses will be granted transfer credit and will be accepted for credit toward a Bachelor of Arts degree:
NOTE: Students should note that GEOG 270 meets the MATH, COSC or STAT equivalency only for the Environmental Studies Emphasis or the Geography Emphasis of the Associate of Arts.
Thirty-six (36) credits in Arts including:
Six (6) credits in the Social Sciences;
Six (6) credits in the Humanities (including the Creative and Performing Arts); and
24 additional credits in Arts.
Nine (9) credits in Arts, Science or other university-transferable courses.
Humanities include English, Fine Arts (excluding FINA 201 and 202), French, German, History, Japanese, Mandarin, Philosophy, First Nations Indigenous Languages, Creative Writing, and Spanish. Social Sciences include Anthropology, Communications, Criminology, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, Indigenous Studies and Geography courses that are not lab science courses.
Note: Of the thirty-six (36) credits in Arts required for the Associate of Arts Degree, eighteen (18) must be from 200-level courses and from two or more subject areas.
Program specializations
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate Arts Degree, students must complete specific Communications courses.
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete specific Anthropology, Geography, English and Modern Language courses.
Specifically, as part of the Associate of Arts Degree requirements, students must complete the following:
ANTH 121 - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
ANTH 170 - Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology
ANTH 213 - Women in Cross-cultural Perspective
ANTH 270 - Phonology
GEOG 117 - Introduction to Human Geography I
GEOG 127 - Introduction to Human Geography II
ENGL 222 - Studies in International Literature in English
And six (6) credits of Modern Languages (French, German, Spanish or Japanese)
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete specific Economics courses.
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete specific English courses.
Specifically, as part of the Associate of Arts Degree requirements, students must complete the following:
9 credits of ENGL from first year and 9 credits of ENGL from second year
Required courses include:
Complete at least 2 of the following:
ENGL 210 - Women in Literature
ENGL 212 - Studies in Children's Literature
ENGL 213 - Studies in British Literature
ENGL 215 - Studies in Reading Film
ENGL 222 - Studies in International Literature in English
ENGL 223 - Studies in Canadian Literature
ENGL 225 - Studies in Drama
ENGL 231 - Studies in Popular Narrative
ENGL 233 - Studies in American Literature
ENGL 236 - Studies in Indigenous Literature in Canada
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Students may only complete one of the following three courses:
Students may only complete one of the following two courses:
With the permission of the department, students may complete a different creative writing course such as: ENGL or CRWR 126, 216, 217, 218, 219 or 220.
Students who earn an English emphasis in the Associate of Arts are deemed to have completed the provincial English Flexible Pre-Major, which enables students to be admitted into the third year of an English major at universities across the province (subject to a competitive GPA).
Please note: Not all courses are available on all campuses every year. Check with the department chair to confirm the availability of courses. Students intending to pursue an English major at UBC should complete ENGL 211 and 221 to demonstrate historical coverage.
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete specific Geography and Earth and Environmental Science courses and a breadth of 200-level arts courses.
Specifically, as part of the Associate of Arts Degree requirements, students must complete the following:
Six (6) credits of introductory Physical Geography or Earth and Environmental Science (one of the following pairs):
or
Six (6) credits of introductory Human Geography (one of the following pairs):
or
Twelve (12) credits of 200-level courses chosen from the following list::
ANTH 245 - Culture and the Environment
ECON 271 - Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
ENGL 237 - Studies in Nature Writing
INDG 202 - Okanagan Concepts and Frameworks
GEOG 205 - Geographical Hydrology
GEOG 210 - Introduction to Environmental Issues
GEOG 217 - Regional Geography of British Columbia
GEOG 222 - Geomorphology
GEOG 224 - The Canadian Landscape
GEOG 250 - Introduction to Urban Geography
GEOG 272 - Introduction to Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing
GSWS 222 - Eco-Feminism
ENGL 232 - International Language in English Literature II can also be selected as a 200-level course.
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete specific Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies courses.
Specifically, as part of the Associate of Arts Degree requirements, students must complete the following:
Six (6) credits of 100-level Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, and
Twelve (12) credits of 200-level Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete specific Geography and Earth and Environmental Science courses and a breadth of 200-level arts courses.
Specifically, as part of the Associate of Arts Degree requirements, students must complete the following:
Six (6) credits of introductory Human Geography (one of the following pairs):
or
Any four 200 level or higher Geography courses.
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree with an emphasis in History, students must complete specific History courses.
Specifically, as part of the Associate of Arts Degree requirements, students must complete:
Eighteen (18) credits of History, including a minimum of six credits of 200-level History
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree with an emphasis in French, students must complete specific courses in French.
Specifically, as part of the Associate of Arts Degree requirements, students must complete the following:
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree with an emphasis in German, students must complete specific courses in German.
Specifically, as part of the Associate of Arts Degree requirements, students must complete the following:
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree with an emphasis in Spanish, students must complete specific courses in Spanish.
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete specific Philosophy, Political Science and Economics courses.
Specifically, as part of the Associate of Arts Degree requirements, students complete the following:
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete specific Philosophy, Political Science and Economics courses.
Specifically, as part of the Associate of Arts Degree requirements, students must complete all of the following:
Six (6) credits of 100/200-level Economics
Six (6) credits of 100/200-level Philosophy
Six (6) credits of 100/200-level Political Science
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete specific Political Science courses.
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete specific Psychology courses.
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete specific Sociology courses.
This Associate of Arts degree Emphasis in Resistance and Revolution, offered exclusively at the Salmon Arm campus, is a program that will expose students to the variety of ways that people around the world have contested and continue to contest social, political, colonial, and economic orders. This interdisciplinary program will focus not only on dramatic and large-scale social movements and revolution, but also on small-scale, grass-roots efforts aimed at affecting change. Important topics will include the application of critical theories of race, class, gender, and sexuality as well as social movement theories and cultural critique.
As a means of satisfying all the requirements outlined above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete the following:
And six (6) credits of 200-level Humanities and/or Social Sciences with substantial content related to resistance and revolution.
Prior to registration, students must receive approval for course selections from the IDST Department Chair, or campus designate, in order to ensure graduation requirements can be met for the Resistance and Revolution Emphasis.
As a means of satisfying all of the requirements outline above for an Associate of Arts Degree, students must complete specific English courses.
Year 1
Specifically, as part of the Associate of Arts Degree requirements, students must complete all of the following:
30 credits
12 credits of electives that satisfy graduation requirements of the Associate of Arts Degree program.
Year 2
30 credits
ENGL 220 - Studies in the Theory and Practice of Creative Writing
CRWR 216 - Intermediate Workshop in Creative Writing - Poetry
CRWR 217 - Intermediate Workshop in Creative Writing - Fiction
CRWR 218 - Intermediate Workshop in Creative Writing - Drama
CRWR 219 - Intermediate Workshop in Creative Writing - Creative Non-Fiction
CRWR 281 - Intermediate Workshop in Creative Writing-Screenwriting
18 credits of electives that satisfy graduation requirements of the Associate of Arts Degree program.
Additional information
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