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School of Exercise Science, Physical & Health Education

Honours program

The School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education (EPHE) offers Honours programs for students enrolled in either the Bachelor of Science (BSc) Kinesiology program or the Bachelor of Arts (BA) Recreation and Health Education program.

Honours degrees are optional additions for motivated, self-directed students who wish to engage in research during their undergraduate program.

As part of the honours program, you must complete an approved research methods course and a supervised research project or thesis. These involve a higher standard of study than your bachelor's degree.

Completing the honours program expands your inquiry, analysis and problem-solving skills and enhances the impression you make on prospective employers. It can also strengthen an application to graduate school.

When you graduate, honours will appear as your program type on your degree parchment and in your final transcript.

Eligibility & admission

You can apply for admission to the Honours program in the third or fourth year of your major.

To be eligible for admission to the Honours program: 

  • you must have completed or be registered in EPHE 357 or PSYC 201 
  • you must have third year standing (i.e., have completed 27 or more units) 
  • you must have a minimum 6.5 grade point average
    • for Kinesiology students: on a minimum of 9.0 units of EPHE courses (excluding EPHE 104-137)
    • for Recreation and Health Education students: on a minimum of 6.0 units of EPHE courses (excluding EPHE 104-137)

See the UVic Academic Calendar for full program requirements:

How to apply for admission

To apply for admission to Honours, you must first email the EPHE academic adviser to request an eligibility check and application form. If you are eligible, the adviser will email you an endorsed honours application form. (The EPHE academic adviser will complete Section 1 of the form.) 

Once you receive an endorsed form, you must find an EPHE faculty member who is offering an Honours project/thesis opportunity that interests you. If a faculty member agrees to supervise your project/thesis, they need to complete Section 2 of your application form indicating their agreement.

The completed form must then be returned to the EPHE academic adviser. The adviser will add Honours to your degree program and notify you by email that your program has been amended. 

Once the academic adviser has notified you of your admission to the Honours program, you and your supervisor must complete an EPHE 499 undergraduate pro forma course registration form and return it to the EPHE program assistant. This form is used to manually register you in your EPHE 499 Honours project/thesis. You cannot register in EPHE 499 yourself. 

Your completed EPHE 499 registration form will show the assessment requirements of your Honours project/thesis, as well as their respective weightings as determined by your supervisor. In most instances, the assessment requirements of an Honours project/thesis will include: 

  • collection of data 
  • analysis of collected data
  • reporting of research findings, either in writing or a presentation format 

Note: assessment requirements of a project/thesis are determined by your supervisor and may vary depending on the project/thesis. 

The EPHE program assistant will arrange for your completed EPHE 499 registration form to be approved by the director of the School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education, the dean of the faculty, and then be processed by Student Records. It can take 3–4 weeks for EPHE 499 to appear on your record as an active registration. 

Program requirement changes 

The following changes are made to your degree program when you register for Honours: 

  • EPHE 357 (1.5 units) or PSYC 201 (1.5 units) is added as a required course 
  • EPHE 499 (3.0 units) is added as a required course 
  • 300- or 400-level EPHE electives are reduced by 1.5 units 
  • 300- or 400-level discipline related electives are reduced by 1.5 units 

Please note: if you are using PSYC 201 instead of EPHE 357 in your program and you are also completing a minor in psychology, you will need to take an extra 200-level PSYC course in place of PSYC 201 as part of the minor. 

Non-EPHE faculty supervision

In some instances, it is possible for a faculty member from outside of the School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education to supervise your honours project/thesis. In these circumstances, you still need an EPHE faculty member to act as an administrative supervisor. Only an EPHE faculty member can submit your EPHE 499 grade.

If you are considering having a faculty member from outside of EPHE supervise your Honours project/thesis, you should discuss your intentions with the program lead before approaching potential supervisors.

Graduating with an honours degree

 An honours degree will be awarded to students who obtain: 

  • a graduating grade point average of at least 6.5 
  • a grade point average of at least 5.5 for 300- and 400-level EPHE courses 
  • a grade of at least B+ in EPHE 499 

If you achieve a grade lower than B+ in EPHE 499, you will still graduate under the major program, providing all other requirements for the degree are fulfilled. 

All honours degree requirements should be completed within 5 academic years.