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Program Information

Exploring our intellectual culture

The Graduate Liberal Studies (GLS) program explores significant tensions within our intellectual culture that have historical origins and practical consequences in our present world. To this end, each of our seminars is shaped around an issue of perennial human concern, an issue that both reflects some of the central dilemmas that have marked human civilization and provides an intellectual and cultural context for contemporary problems.

We are now accepting applications for the Fall 2025 GLS Cohort. Deadline for applications is March 12, 2025.

Please contact glsp@sfu.ca for more information.

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Master of arts in liberal studies

There are many reasons for pursuing a degree in liberal studies. For some, it may be to fulfill elements missing from their previous education. Often, this is expressed in terms of not having read certain classic texts or having read them too superficially or instrumentally, or having missed whole areas of knowledge that now seem central to understanding personal, political, cultural or public policy issues. For others, it may be to satisfy a yearning to be part of a “community of learning,” to read books with others, to debate seriously with others, and to do so within an externally validated structure. Alternatively, it may be the freedom to pursue a masters of arts in a flexible part-time setting without being constrained to a specialised academic track. Or it may be to hone and sharpen certain skill sets that are needed more than ever in real world application.

Program information

Explore our master's program and see what our curriculum has to offer.

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Fees & funding

Find out more about the tuition and costs associated with completing our master's program. 

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How to apply

Application to our master's program is done online. Find out more below.

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Curriculum & degree requirements

The Graduate Liberal Studies (GLS) program boasts a robust curriculum of diverse and interdisciplinary courses and materials to support a wide range of learning.

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Degree completion timeline

Our master of arts program is flexible to support the learning of students who are at various stages of their lives and careers.

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GLS aims to immerse students in an expansive, multidisciplinary, and multi-perspectival study of the human condition. Students engage with historical and contemporary texts and discuss ideas, positions, and arguments concerning persons, societies, and their inter-relations. They explore tensions inherent in human cultures through various lenses: for example, reason and passion, personal and social goods, human use and abuse of the environment.

By participating in a community of learning based on interdisciplinary seminars and on research utilizing various modes of inquiry, they develop an enhanced understanding of themselves and others.

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Got a question?

Contact the GLS office at glsp@sfu.ca.