Future Student FAQs

We offer more than $1.5 million in scholarships and bursaries to our undergraduate students, as well as travel and research grants for you to present your research at local, national, and international conferences.

We ensure that all of our students get 20 weeks of field experience (practicum).

You'll also have the opportunity to participate in our incredible Teaching Across Borders program, which offers you an international placement during the final year of your degree.

You may further want to get involved in our Service-Learning program, among other great Professional Learning Opportunities.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to take our 400 or 500-level Education-specific courses as a non-major.

Further, no student ever receives transfer credit toward fulfilling their Education-specific classes. This is due to the fact that we are offering a certifying program as approved by the Minister of Education, which means that in order to maintain accreditation and validity in the eyes of Alberta Education, all of our graduates must have taken the program as it was approved.

Additionally, our Education-specific courses have been developed to act as co-requisites, each influencing and informing the other, making it tough for you to take just one of these courses without the others. We therefore must also prioritize access to these courses for our current Majors.

Students interested in our Four-Year or Concurrent pathways can consider starting on their non-Education requirements. If you choose to 'shadow' a desired degree, ensure to review the admission and course information on your program page, and know that shadowing a degree does not guarantee you admission into said.

If you are a non-Major interested in taking EDUC 201 or another 200-level EDUC course, please review the information covered by our web-form. Students with at least 6 semester-long courses (18 units) completed may also want to review our EDUC 300-level series. Ensure to review any registration restrictions and requisites.

If you are hoping to pursue an After-Degree, know that EDUC 201 is not a required course for those pathways (nor will taking it affect your application).

You must first apply to Alberta Education for an assessment of your previous education and experience. Please visit Alberta Education for more information.

Once your assessment has been completed, Alberta Education will provide you with a letter detailing any requirements you must complete in order to become a certified teacher. Usually, these requirements will be covered by something like one of the following:

1. You need to take a few more Education-specific courses (often, this might read something like ‘9 semester hour credits in’). If this is the case, get in touch with the Graduate Programs in Education office at gpe@ucalgary.ca, to complete any mandated coursework. Unfortunately, it not possible to take our undergraduate 400 or 500-level EDUC courses as a non-Major;
2. You need to complete the full Bachelor of Education degree. In this case, please take a look at our program information!
3. You need to complete a course in English or French literature. This does not require admission to an Education program. You can complete this course through any accredited post-secondary institution. Popular options include online purveyor Athabasca University (if you need flexibility in your coursework and deadlines), or Open Studies at the University of Calgary.

If you are an international applicant, you will need to meet the University’s English Language Proficiency standards to take any coursework here.

Please Note: If you hold an Education credential of any type from your home jurisdiction and were able to teach there, it is highly advised that you first apply to Alberta Education for an evaluation, prior to submitting any application to the University of Calgary. This is for two reasons:

1. If you already hold a Bachelor of Education, you will not be eligible for the After-Degree: you cannot complete an After-Degree in the same discipline in which you already hold a parchment.

2. Alberta Education still requires a Statement of Professional Standing, as well as any other supporting documents mandated, for the purposes of certification, regardless of whether or not you complete the Bachelor of Education through the University of Calgary.

We know that as an elementary teacher, you'll likely wind up working as a generalist, teaching almost every subject area. Our degrees ask you to specialize in one subject area, however, because as you gain the skills and competencies to deeply explore your chosen teachable, you'll gain the ability to become deeply engaged with all curricular areas.