Athabasca University

What you'll study

The curriculum is interdisciplinary, allowing you to combine perspectives and approaches across fields in the arts, humanities and social sciences. The program ends with a substantive final integrated project or capstone paper; you may complete this as a grouped-study capstone course or as an individual-study project focused on a question, work/life situation, or community problem. Students may declare one of several academic focus areas after admission or pursue an independent track to design a custom study plan.

Entry requirements

Admission requires a baccalaureate degree and completion of an academic writing assessment. Applicants submit a study plan to the Graduate Office after admission to declare focus area(s). Courses are offered in online paced-study and individualized-study formats; individualized-study courses begin on the first day of each month. There are three intakes per year; application deadlines and associated start dates appear on the program page (examples in the program text: application deadline Jan. 15 → spring start; May 15 → fall start; Sep. 15 → winter start).

Career prospects

The degree develops multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary reasoning, critical thought, teamwork and social awareness. Graduates are prepared to apply analytical and problem-solving skills in workplaces and community settings that require cross-disciplinary perspectives, including public sector agencies, non-profits, community development roles, adult and distance education, and other roles that value broad-based graduate-level inquiry and applied projects.

Scholarships & funding angle (general)

The program page lists tuition and fee details for planning purposes. For the 2026–2027 fee period the estimated total tuition for a Canadian student taking all courses from Athabasca University is provided in the program materials. Additional mandatory fees (application, admission, association and administrative fees) and optional charges (transfer-credit evaluation, course extension, continuation fees) are noted on the official fees page. Prospective students should consult Athabasca University’s Financial Services and Graduate Office for up-to-date funding, scholarship and payment information.