Minor in International Relations

An IR Minor consists of at least 30 credits, but not more than 42 credits, selected from the courses listed as part of the International Relations Major, of which at least 18 must be numbered 300 or above.

*Please note: Students can only double count 6 upper-level credits between their major and the IR minor.

First and Second Year Course Requirements

At least 12 credits of the following must be included among the courses taken:

  • Econ 101 or Econ 310 – IB credit cannot be used toward this requirement
  • Econ 102 or Econ 311 – IB credit cannot be used toward this requirement
  • Hist 103 or Hist 102  – Arts One, IB and AP credit cannot be used toward this requirement
  • Poli 260

Students who have taken Econ 101, 102, and Poli 260 are still required to take Hist 102 or 103 to fulfil the remaining 3 credits of the lower level requirement.

Third and Fourth Year Requirements

At least 18 upper-level credits must be taken from any of the courses listed as part of the IR major with the exception of IR seminars.

IR Minor Language Requirement

Students are also required to take at least 6 credits of one language other than English, in addition to the Faculty of Arts language requirement. The language can be the one used to satisfy the Faculty of Arts requirement carried to a higher level, or it can be an additional language. Students should email irmajor.program@ubc.ca once their language requirement is complete as it needs to manually updated in degree navigator. More information on the language requirement can be found here.

Note: Language courses do not count toward the required 30-42 credits in International Relations; they can typically be used towards Arts electives.

Adding the IR Minor

Students in the Faculty of Arts may add the IR minor to their program through the SSC. Special permission is not required from the IR program to do so. Students in other faculties should approach their Faculty Advisor for instructions if they would like to add an IR minor to their program.

If there any problems with the enrollment, please contact the IR program office at irmajor.program@ubc.ca