The Bachelor of General Studies (Applied Sciences) is a proposed generalist degree of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Simon Fraser University. It allows students to pursue a broad applied degree with advanced studies in Communication, Computing Science, Engineering Science, Kinesiology and/or Resource and Environmental Management without specialized emphasis in any one particular area. Alternatively, students may pursue a minor program in an Applied Science together with an appropriate minor within another Faculty.
This is a nonspecialist degree program that offers students a broad education with an applied orientation. This program may be satisfied either through the General Applied Sciences Option or through the Double Minor Option.
Students must complete 30 credit hours of upper division Science and Applied Sciences courses subject to the following constraints.
For the purposes of this requirement, MACM courses are counted as courses of the School of Computing Science.
Students may satisfy the double minor option by taking two minors (or extended minors), at least one of which must be in the Faculty of Applied Sciences. If the only minor from Applied Sciences is in Communication, the second minor must be from the Faculty of Science.
Students must complete 120 credit hours overall for the degree, including 45 upper division credit hours. A 2.00 graduation GPA is required as described under Graduation Requirements in the General Information section of this calendar.
Students in the Faculty of Applied Sciences may apply for admission to either the General Applied Sciences Option or the Double Minor Option at any time.
Students in Faculties other than Applied Sciences may apply for admission the Double Minor option upon acceptance into two qualifying Minor programs by the schools or departments concerned.
In addition, a limited number of spaces will be made available each year for students transferring to the General Applied Sciences Option from other Faculties. Admission is competitive based on GPA in upper division Applied Sciences courses. To be considered for admission, students must have successfully completed at least 9 credits of upper division Applied Sciences courses with a GPA of 2.25.
Enrolment in the upper division courses of a particular School may be limited to those BGS students who also meet the admission standards of that School. Admission to the BGS program may not be used to bypass the enrolment limitations of any other Applied Sciences program.
With the recent introduction at SFU of direct entry by Faculty, there is now a need to add a general studies degree in the Faculty of Applied Sciences to complement the Bachelor of General Studies in the Faculty of Arts and the General Science program in the Faculty of Science. The Bachelor of General Studies (Applied Sciences) allows students enrolled in the Faculty of Applied Sciences to have an option for generalist education in the event that they do not wish to pursue, or do not qualify for, a specialist program.
The program design meets University norms for general degree requirements and is comparable to the double minor structure of other general degrees. In addition, the 30-credit General Applied Sciences Option, without restriction to two minors, allows participation by Engineering Science and by Resource and Environmental Management, neither of which offer a traditional 15-credit minor credential. Furthermore, this approach is somewhat more flexible than the two minors approach.