Undergraduate Italian Studies (BA) | UBC FHIS

Expand your horizons and gain an appreciation for Italian language, literature and culture through our minor program in Italian Studies at UBC Vancouver.

Italy is a country with an extremely rich cultural history, whose legacy in music, architecture, arts, and philosophy is well-recognized around the world. At UBC, we offer a wide range of courses where you can develop Italian language skills and explore Italian literature, arts and culture in a global context.

Program overview

Students can choose from a wide range of:

Courses on Italian language (ITAL): Our language courses are based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and support learners progress from beginners to upper-intermediate levels (A1-B2). Special topics courses such as the Study Abroad in Italy program, Conversational Italian, Italian for Opera Singers, and Italian Translation also provide additional learning opportunities for students.

Courses on Italian culture (ITST): The ITST courses, which are taught in English, provide students with a firm understanding of canonical works and cutting-edge topics from the Middle Ages to the present. The program’s current course offering is wide-ranging and interdisciplinary: Italian colonialism, fascism, neorealism; Italian cinema and contemporary literature; gender and society in Italy; Dante’s Divine Comedy; literary and visual cultures in medieval and early modern Italy; Italian culture and the environment; migrations in/out of/to Italy; “Made in Italy”; and relations between Italy and China. More courses on special topics are added every year to cater to students’ needs.

We also offer courses specific to career fields (e.g. Italian for Opera) and project-based courses in the community and abroad.

Determining your entrance level