The Munk One program provides students with a broad foundation in global affairs and public policy, exploring how societies make decisions, address challenges, and create impact at local, national, and global levels. Students develop analytical, research, and problem-solving skills while engaging with real-world policy issues through interdisciplinary learning and experiential opportunities.
As a Munk One student, you’ll study problems that are not limited to any one academic field. You’ll learn to recognize the array of tools that can be deployed to develop better insights and solutions to global challenges. Most importantly, you’ll learn to not only ask the right questions, but also to discover innovative answers.
The smallest of the first-year foundation programs at U of T, Munk One offers you the rare opportunity to work closely with professors and distinguished experts at the beginning of your university career and to form a tight-knit, small community within Canada’s largest university.
Core courses
MUN100H1F: Global Innovation
Instructor: Joe Wong
Lecture: Tues 8 -10 AM
Innovation has always been a key driver of economic growth, population health, and societal success. Transformative change has historically been linked to major innovations such as urban sanitation, pasteurization, the printing press and the industrial revolution. Currently, the opportunity to enhance life chances worldwide relies on innovating for the poor, social innovation, and the ability to harness scientific and technological knowledge. What precisely is innovation? When does innovation happen? Who benefits from innovation? How can innovation be fostered, and how do innovations spread? Relying on major global transformations and country-specific case studies (for example, South Korea, Taiwan, Israel and India), this course examines the drivers of innovation, the political, social, economic, and scientific and technological factors that are critical to promoting innovation and addressing current global challenges, and the consequences of innovation. Restricted to first-year students admitted to Munk One. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
MUN110H1S: Changing World Orders
Instructor: Manjari Chatterjee Miller
Lecture: Mon 3 - 5 PM
Tutorial: Fri 10 - 11 AM
World orders are not a static phenomenon. The Liberal International Order (LIO), for example, was created by the United States and its allies after World War II. Today, we see that order is in crisis. This course explores debates about what constitutes “order,” why orders rise and fall, and how actors in different regions of the world seek security, influence and legitimacy in uncertain times. This is a highly interactive class designed to teach students how to analyze concepts, present them, collectively identify and outline policy problems and solutions, and understand how global structures affect country behaviors and vice-versa. Restricted to first-year students admitted to Munk One. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
MUN130H1F: Climate, Energy, and Power
Instructor: Alexandra Rahr
Lecture: Thurs 1 - 3 PM
Energy is at the crux of a range of pressing global issues, including climate change and the existential threat it poses across the world. This class uses energy – sometimes as a focal point, sometimes as an entry point – to examine a range of issues including inequality, emergent technologies and policy making in a global context. Restricted to first-year students admitted to Munk One. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
MUN140H1S: Design for Social Change and Inclusion
Instructor: Paola Salardi
Lecture: Wed 9 - 11 AM
Tutorial: Thurs 4 - 5 PM
Framed around a design challenge, in this class students work in teams to come up with an innovative, equity-focused approach to a global problem. To this end, the course includes modules on topics such as: collecting primary data (via interviews and/or focus groups); conducting secondary research; identifying beneficiaries’ needs; developing a mindset for social innovation; assessing feasibility and viability; and how to develop culturally responsive and relevant propositions. Restricted to first-year students admitted to Munk One. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.