The Master of Arts program offers students in a wide range of disciplines the opportunity to earn a master’s degree by writing a thesis and successfully completing a limited number of courses.

Students are required to secure a potential supervisor prior to submitting an application for this program.​ The Thesis forms the central requirement of the program which involves close collaboration between supervisor and student. The Thesis route expresses the fundamental tradition of academic scholarship, and the creation of a Thesis in any discipline calls for a range of skills which are central to the liberal education tradition, including analysis and synthesis of ideas, empirical investigations, the construction and articulation of arguments, and writing skills.

Students may complete their degrees in either a full- or part-time capacity. Full-time students complete a 24-month program while part-time students complete a 48-month program.

For the M.A. program, students are required to complete courses, a Thesis, and a Thesis Oral Defence. Three to six graduate term courses or equivalent (9.0 to 18.0 credit hours) are required for this program. Students develop their programs in consultation with their supervisors.