Flexible yet focused, UC’s bachelor’s degree qualifications equip you to solve the problems of the future. Whether you already have your career path mapped out, or are open to new possibilities, you can tailor your studies to suit your interests and goals.
You can focus on a particular career from day one, or follow new and exciting options as you discover them. Some qualifications are specialised, with most of your first-year courses already set into a programme, such as the Bachelor of Engineering with Honours or Bachelor of Laws.
Others allow much more flexibility, and even give you the chance to choose minors from other programmes, such as a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Commerce. This means you can study diverse combinations of subjects and still complete your degree in three years.
As well as bachelor’s degrees, UC also offers a number of undergraduate certificates and diplomas.
Undergraduate Prospectus (PDF, 4MB, 138 pages)
Entry requirements
Entry for bachelor’s degrees require University Entrance to gain admission to UC. If you gained your qualifications overseas, these will need to be assessed to ensure they are of an equivalent standard.
You are also required to meet UC’s English language requirements if English is your additional language.
Find out how to apply for undergraduate qualifications.
Some bachelor’s degrees have additional requirements. Check the details of your selected degree and courses to make sure you meet these.
Qualification options
There are a number of bachelor’s degrees on offer at the University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Bachelor of Commerce
- Bachelor of Communication
- Bachelor of Criminal Justice
- Bachelor of Engineering with Honours
- Bachelor of Fine Arts
- Bachelor of Forestry Science
- Bachelor of Health Sciences
- Bachelor of Laws
- Bachelor of Music
- Bachelor of Product Design
- Bachelor of Science
- Bachelor of Social Work with Honours
- Bachelor of Speech and Language Pathology with Honours
- Bachelor of Sport Coaching
- Bachelor of Teaching and Learning (Early Childhood)
- Bachelor of Teaching and Learning (Primary)
- Bachelor of Youth and Community Leadership
- Conjoint Bachelor of Arts and Commerce
- Conjoint Bachelor of Arts and Science
- Conjoint Bachelor of Commerce and Science
- Conjoint Bachelor of Product Design and Commerce
- Conjoint Bachelor of Product Design and Science
It is also possible to combine and graduate with two bachelor’s degrees at the same time. Find out more about Double and Conjoint degrees.
Subjects
A bachelor’s degree will allow you to study across a broad range of subjects. A subject is a particular area of study that the University offers courses in eg, English, Management, or Geology.
Browse Subjects to explore your study options so you can get an idea of everything that is on offer.
A
- Accounting
- Adventure Sport and Environment
- Ancient Greek
- Antarctic Studies
- Anthropology
- Applied Immersive Game Design
- Art History and Theory
- Astronomy
B
- Biochemistry
- Biological Sciences
- Biomedical Engineering
- Bioprocess Engineering
- Biosecurity
- Biotechnology
- Business and Sustainability
- Business Economics
C
- Chemical and Process Engineering
- Chemical Formulation Design
- Chemistry
- Chinese
- Cinema Studies
- Civil Engineering
- Classics
- Communication
- Communication Strategy and Practice
- Communications and Network Engineering
- Computer Engineering
- Computer Science
- Criminal Justice
- Cultural Studies
D
- Data Science
- Digital Humanities
E
- Early Childhood Teacher Education
- Ecology
- Economics
- Education
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Energy Processing Technologies
- Engineering
- English
- English Language
- Entrepreneurship (see Strategy and Entrepreneurship)
- Environmental Health
- Environmental Process Engineering
- Environmental Science
- European and European Union Studies
F
- Film
- Finance
- Financial Engineering
- Fine Arts
- Forest Engineering
- Forestry Science
- French
G
- Game Design
- Geography
- Geology
- German
- Global Humanitarian Engineering
- Graphic Design
H
- Health Education
- Health Sciences
- History
- Human Resource Management
- Human Services
- Humanitarian Engineering
I
- Industrial Product Design
- Information Systems
- Innovation
- International Business
J
- Japanese
- Journalism
L
- Latin
- Law
- Linguistics
M
- Management
- Māori and Indigenous Health
- Māori and Indigenous Studies
- Marketing
- Mathematics
- Mechanical Engineering
- Mechatronics Engineering
- Media and Communication
- Medicinal Chemistry
- Music
- Musical Culture
N
- Natural Resources Engineering
- New Music
- Nutrition (see Strength and Conditioning with Nutrition)
O
- Operations and Supply Chain Management
P
- Pacific Studies
- Painting
- Performance
- Performance Analysis
- Philosophy
- Photography
- Physical Education
- Physics
- Political Communication
- Political Science and International Relations
- Power Engineering
- Primary Teacher Education
- Product Design
- Professional and Community Engagement
- Psychology
- Public Health
R
- Russian
S
- Science, Māori and Indigenous Knowledge
- Sculpture
- Social Work
- Society and Policy
- Sociology
- Software Engineering
- Soil Science
- Spanish
- Speech and Language Pathology
- Sport Coaching
- Sport Science
- Sports Leadership and Management
- Statistics
- Strategy and Entrepreneurship
- Strength and Conditioning (see Strength and Conditioning with Nutrition)
- Strength and Conditioning with Nutrition
- Structural Engineering
T
- Tauwhitinga Māori: Māori Communication Strategy and Practice
- Taxation (see Taxation and Accounting)
- Taxation and Accounting
- Teacher Education
- Te Reo Māori
- Tourism Marketing and Management
U
- University Preparation
W
- Water and Environmental Systems Engineering
- Water Resource Management
Y
- Youth and Community Leadership
Major subjects
Studying towards a bachelor’s degree, you’ll develop a deep understanding of a particular study area from first to final year. This core subject area is called your ‘major’. With nearly 100 major subjects to choose from at undergraduate level, you can select a major that fits with your career aspirations and allows you to develop in-depth knowledge.
For some degrees, such as a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Health Sciences, Bachelor of Science, or Bachelor of Sport Coaching, you can also choose to do a double major and specialise in two subjects. This will not increase your workload or the length of your degree. Provided you meet the requirements for both majors at the end of the first year, you can decide whether you want to continue and take a double major, or whether you want to focus on one subject and take the other as a ‘minor’.
Minor subjects
A ‘minor’ offers a similar focus for your degree as your ‘major’ subject, but requires less courses and is an addition to your core degree knowledge. Most students take a minor to complement their major subject or career aspirations, or as a different subject area that they are particularly interested in. Not all bachelor’s degrees at UC offer a minor.
Minor subjects offered within the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Sport Coaching, and Bachelor of Youth and Community Leadership are shared across these degrees, allowing you to choose your minor from a wide variety of options.
Some bachelor’s degrees have specific course requirements for majors and minors; visit the University Regulations website or contact the relevant College for more details.
Courses
Courses are blocks of work that are usually taught over one semester. When you pass a course, you gain points (usually 15 or 30 points per course). Every course you pass adds points to the total required for your degree. First-year students usually only take 100-level courses, although there are some exceptions. Other universities sometimes refer to courses as ‘papers’.
Course codes
Each course has a code of four letters and three numbers. The letters show the subject and the numbers show the level. For example, MATH 101 is a Mathematics course at 100-level, and ENGL 201 is an English course at 200-level.
Electives
Along with taking courses that will go towards your major or minors, you can also take courses in other subjects you are interested in. These are often called electives.
Course prerequisites
You usually have to pass certain courses in a subject – called prerequisites – before you can continue on to 200-level courses in your second year.
Duration
Your bachelor’s degree usually takes three or four years of full-time study to complete. Typically, three year degrees require 360 points of study. Four year bachelor’s degrees, such as the Bachelor of Forestry Science, typically require 480 points of study.
Semesters
The year is divided into three semesters — the first from March to July, the second from July to October, and the summer semester from November to February. A course usually takes one semester to complete.
Students may choose to study in the summer semester to complete their qualification in a shorter time frame, to take prerequisite courses to prepare for another course they wish to take during the other semesters, or to catch up on a failed course.
Further study
Successfully completing an undergraduate degree will allow you to continue on to a wide range of graduate and postgraduate qualifications such as:
- Graduate certificates and diplomas
- Honours degrees
- Postgraduate certificates and diplomas
- Master’s degrees