Integrated Sciences Program

The new Integrated Science Program to be launched by the Faculty of Science in September 1998 leads to a B.Sc. in Integrated Sciences. The goal of the Program is to give students solid academic grounding while preparing them realistically for lifelong learning based on the scientific and transferable skills they acquire. IS students will have the flexibility to build their own interdisciplinary programs by combing course across the curriculum in cohesive and complementary ways, and with guidance from an advisor. This asks them to think about their educational and career goals and to take charge of their own education. The especially designed Integration courses are an opportunity for students to learn by “example” how to develop a wider perspective and more global understanding of scientific concepts that cross disciplinary boundaries. The outcome of such academic preparation should be an intellectual maturity that enables students to integrate material from several different areas and to contextualize those ideas in a meaningful synthesis of knowledge.

The Integrated Sciences Program has been approved by the Faculty of Science and the Curriculum and Admission Sub-Committees of Senate; student surveys have been extremely encouraging as hundreds of interested students have registered themselves on an IS update e-mail list. We are now requesting funding to cover a small part of the costs for the set-up of the Program and the administration for the next three years until the Program becomes self-supporting on the basis of FTE.

Julyet Benbasat, Associate Dean, Curriculum Initiatives, Faculty of Science
George Spiegelman, Chair, Integrated Sciences Program Implementation Committee, Faculty of Science