Undergraduate Global Challenges and Opportunities Program (UCOP)

The Undergraduate Global Challenges and Opportunities Program (UCOP) offers you the opportunity to tackle pressing global challenges through theme-based projects that apply cross-disciplinary knowledge and transferable skills. The program emphasises problem structuring, effective communication, and critical thinking, with suggested topics linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and themes like aging, food security, and sustainable production. By completing UCOP, you will gain an understanding of complex societal issues, improve your ability to communicate across disciplines, and demonstrate critical thinking using qualitative and quantitative methods. There is no prerequisite for UCOP, you should take a 3-credit UCOP course to fulfill the 3-credit requirement in UCOP.

Program Structure

The program focuses on global challenges and includes group projects and presentations as key assignments. Your theme-based project will reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the course by addressing significant global challenges and incorporating content from at least two common core areas within the Broadening group, such as Arts, Humanities, Science, Technology, and Social Analysis.

To enhance your learning experience, it is recommended that you work in multidisciplinary teams comprising students from different major programs or schools. This collaborative approach will allow you to gain valuable interdisciplinary knowledge from your peers as you tackle the focal challenge.

Course Syllabus