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Graduate Programs

Our graduate programs are where the next generation of ideas are born.

The Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies offers more than 35 graduate degrees in 21 fields of study. Join 1,400+ graduate students engaged in enriching research and critical study alongside award-winning faculty. Here you will have the opportunity for collaboration with some of the brightest minds from a diversity of backgrounds and be able to assist in developing innovative ideas and relevant research with real-world impact. 


Graduate Program in Social Anthropology (MA, PhD)

Join a dynamic, intellectual community of scholars and faculty committed to theoretically informed, empirically grounded and socially relevant research. Engage in ethnographic fieldwork in places, communities and archives on topics of contemporary and historical relevance. You’ll develop the research and professional skills to gain new insights and contribute to theoretical and methodological developments in anthropology.


Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture (MA, PhD)

This unique partnership between York and Ryerson University combines the very best leaders in the field for the advanced study of communication and culture. Collectively, they represent a diversity of perspectives and professional experience in communications, social sciences, humanities, media and fine arts. Our curriculum offers a grounding in theory and method, in addition to the practices, processes and technologies in contemporary communication and cultural production.


Graduate Program in Development Studies (MA)

A structured, interdisciplinary program, Development Studies offers a flexible combination of coursework, research and fieldwork. Core courses provide a full range of conceptual and methodological tools to engage and learn about the intersectionality of socio-economic, political and cultural developmental changes across the Global South. Students gain proficiencies in practical research and place-based knowledge through field research and hands-on experiences.


Graduate Program in Disaster & Emergency Management (MDEM)

Enter this exciting and rapidly expanding field in the only graduate program of its kind in Ontario. Students explore the key concepts, methodologies and technologies used by emergency management professionals in the field. You’ll also hone analytical, research and critical thinking skills, such as how to synthesize large amounts of complex information and make sound decisions in challenging and often difficult circumstances.


Graduate Program in Economics (MA, PhD)

Our graduate program is ranked among the top programs in Canada with strengths in several fields of economics. Students will receive advanced training in economic theory and quantitative methods. Study in Toronto, Canada’s largest commercial and financial centre, while gaining the skills necessary for a future in the private or public sector, or academia.


Graduate Program in English (MA, PhD)

Over the past three generations, York's English faculty has shaped the ways in which literary study is carried out across the country. In this dynamic, interdisciplinary program, you’ll study with prize-winning faculty who are committed to research and teaching. Our approach blends post-colonial studies, community engagement, and social justice. Students pursue relevant issues and creative ideas by engaging with the material and collaborating with peers and faculty. 


Graduate Program in Financial Accountability (MFAc)

In the only program of its kind in the world, students focus on financial accountability and regulations, corporate governance and ethics. Students graduate well-equipped to deal with complex organizational, ethical, legislative and financial realities. Here, students work collaboratively to understand some of the toughest and most pressing challenges facing leaders around the globe.


Graduate Program Gender, Feminist & Women’s Studies (MA, PhD)

One of the primary goals of this program is to develop and use a feminist analytical perspective to the study of women and gender as they intersect with sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, ability and age. Students will apply feminist scholarship to undertake rigorous interdisciplinary training and attain the tools needed to enact social transformation in theory and practice.


Graduate Program in History (MA, PhD)

The graduate program in History at York University is distinguished by a vibrant intellectual climate and vigorous historical inquiry. Our program explores a wide range of geographical and thematic areas of historical research. Long known for its strength in Canadian History, York also offers a diversity of choices in the areas of British, European, and American History; Comparative, Global and Transnational History; African, Caribbean, and Latin American history and the history of the ancient world.  We also have opportunities in the growing fields in the History of Sciences, Health and Environment.


Graduate Program in Human Resource Management (MHRM, PhD)

Join Canada’s leader in HRM education. We offer cutting-edge, career-oriented graduate programs that provide skilled professionals with the competency required to advance their careers while contributing meaningfully to HRM research and scholarship. You’ll learn to become a future leader in human resource management by studying and discussing organizational behaviour, industrial psychology, industrial and labour relations, work law and labour policy.


Graduate Program in Humanities (MA, PhD)

Examine subjects central to the humanities within a wide diversity of approaches with an explicit focus on interdisciplinary scholarship in theory and in practice. Drawing on the demonstrated expertise of faculty members within the humanities and related areas of study, the program provides students with the unique opportunity to carry out specialized academic work in the diverse, cultural expressions of the humanities.


Graduate Program in Information Systems & Technology (MAIST)

Designed for both working professionals and research-oriented students, this flexible, innovative program is dedicated to the study of information technologies and their application to solving business and societal problems. Working with faculty experts across several university departments, students can focus on such areas such as business analysis and management information systems, data management and analytics, enterprise computing, complex systems and decision support, and financial technologies.


Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Studies (MA)

This unique program provides the opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary, independent, innovative and individualized research that does not fit into traditional disciplinary categories. While intentionally small, this program attracts high-quality students with a wide range of scholarly interests and perspectives. Successful application to the program depends on a variety of factors, including validity of topic, and availability of specialized supervisors.


Graduate Program in Linguistics & Applied Linguistics (MA, PhD)

This internationally recognized graduate program encourages students in linguistics and applied linguistics to prepare for diverse careers in teaching, research, public and the private sectors. Our faculty are well-established scholars with a remarkable range of research and teaching interests, covering a broad spectrum of areas within the program’s main pillars.


Graduate Program in Management Practice (MScMP)

This program is designed to provide future leaders in organizations with a robust understanding of management practices rooted in applied research and analysis that inform evidence-based decision making. Business operations generate increasing volumes of data, and modern leaders have a better chance to get ahead of the competition when they put the data to a better use.


Graduate Program in Philosophy (MA, MA/JD, PhD)

This rigorous program relies on traditional and interdisciplinary methods, taking empirical, conceptual, and applied approaches. Students may choose to specialize in areas such as ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of law, philosophy of cognitive science, and much more. Students in the graduate program are an integral part of a lively philosophical community, hosting their own annual conference as well as regular philosophical and social events.


Graduate Program in Political Science (MA, PhD)

As one of the top political science programs in Canada, we are committed to scholarly excellence, critical thought, and social justice. Our award-winning faculty are active in research and publication on the international stage. Our students may select from five fields of study including Canadian Politics, Comparative Politics, Women and Politics, International Relations and Political Theory.


Graduate Program in Public Policy, Administration & Law (MPPAL)

Created for working professionals, this flexible interdisciplinary graduate program provides students with the skills needed for effective public administration and public policy analysis. The program focuses on themes of constitutional and administrative law, and social justice. The MPPAL draws on the strengths of faculty from across the University, including LA&PS, Glendon College, Osgoode Hall Law School and Environmental Studies.


Graduate Program in Social & Political Thought (MA, PhD)

A truly interdisciplinary program, we aim to integrate the intellectual interest of the humanities and social sciences. This one-of-a-kind program stresses both a historical and a systematic study of social and political ideas. Through independent study, students explore a curriculum structured around the history of social and political thought; Black studies and theories of race and racism; and economy, consciousness, aesthetics and society.


Graduate Program in Social Work (MSW, PhD)

Our program is committed to human rights, social justice and anti-oppression approaches to our scholarship. Widely considered one of the most progressive and socially responsible programs in Canada, we place diversity of experience – race, class, ability, sexual orientation, age, gender, and religious/spiritual affiliation – as central to our understanding of social work services. Students are given an understanding of how oppression, marginalization and assistance are constructed for persons in need of social work services. The PhD program focuses on the conceptualization of the field, its past theoretical approaches, and epistemology.


Graduate Program in Socio-Legal Studies (MA, PhD)

Join the first socio-legal doctoral program in Canada outside a law school. This exciting program builds on York’s pioneering Law & Society and Criminology programs and our tradition of interdisciplinary research. Learn from faculty who are leaders in international and domestic human rights, socio-historical approaches to law, transnational policing, immigration and border security, Indigenous rights, global financial crime, and gender, sexuality and the law.


Graduate Program in Sociology (MA, PhD)

Join one of the most dynamic centres of social theory and research – and one of the largest graduate programs in sociology in Canada. With a well-established reputation for critical scholarship, interdisciplinarity and sociological theory, this program boasts many research chairs and directors working in our research centres, providing students with a rich array of study opportunities.


Graduate Program in Science & Technology Studies (MA, PhD)

Come join our re-envisioned graduate program in Science & Technology Studies (STS). We're the first English–speaking STS program in Canada offering both MA and PhD degrees. In the STS program, you'll be encouraged to draw from social science and humanities disciplines to examine and analyze the role of science and technology in our societies, cultures, and economies. You'll also examine how our social and cultural values or political and economic pressures come to shape science and technology in particular ways. We have established new and exciting Research Clusters on Technoscientific Injustices and Bodies: Organic, Inorganic, Technological to integrate you into the STS research culture at York.