How Post-Secondary Education Works in Prince Edward Island: Institutions, Degrees and Credentials
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 19, 2026 • Canadian Universities & Colleges
Prince Edward Island runs post-secondary education through one public university, one public career college, and a French-language college, with no separate provincial degree-quality board.
Each institution's authority to grant credentials comes from its own act of the provincial legislature instead.
🎓 The University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) grants bachelor's, master's and the region's only veterinary medicine degree, across seven faculties.
Holland College grants one-year certificates and two-year diplomas in more than 50 career programs, with degree-pathway agreements into bachelor's completion.
Collège de l'Île is the province's public French-language college.
UPEI belongs to Universities Canada. Holland College belongs to Colleges and Institutes Canada.
PEI has no CEGEP: Grade 12 leads straight into university or college, as in most provinces outside Quebec.
The two public institutions
The University of Prince Edward Island formed in 1969 when Saint Dunstan's University (founded 1855) and Prince of Wales College (founded 1860) merged. UPEI operates under its own University Act, R.S.P.E.I. 2000 , which gives it the legal authority to grant degrees.
The university teaches through seven faculties, Arts, Business, Education, Nursing, Science, Sustainable Design Engineering and Veterinary Medicine, plus two schools covering mathematical and computational sciences and climate change and adaptation. Fall 2025 enrollment sat near 5,500 students, split between about 4,900 undergraduates and 580 postgraduates.
Holland College also started in 1969. It runs campuses in Charlottetown, Summerside, Alberton and Three Rivers, and teaches career-focused certificates and diplomas rather than degrees. The college lists over 50 full-time programs, spanning business, nursing, trades, tourism and policing.
About 2,600 full-time equivalent students study there, and close to 30 percent come from outside Canada. Holland College publishes degree-pathway agreements that let a diploma count toward credit at a partner university, so a diploma is not a dead end if you want a bachelor's degree later.
Collège de l'Île, based in Wellington, is the province's public French-language college. It serves Island francophones and French-immersion graduates who want to continue post-secondary study in French.
How the credential ladder works
| Credential | Typical length | Where you get it |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate | 1 year | Holland College |
| Diploma | 2 years | Holland College |
| Bachelor's degree | 4 years | UPEI |
| Doctor of Veterinary Medicine | 4 years after prerequisite study | UPEI, Atlantic Veterinary College |
| Master's and graduate diplomas | 1 to 2 years | UPEI |
UPEI's Atlantic Veterinary College is the only vet school serving Atlantic Canada, so it draws applicants from across the region, not only PEI. Many UPEI degree programs and Holland College diplomas build in co-op terms or workplace placements, which extend total program length but add paid work experience before graduation. Confirm co-op availability on the specific program page, since not every program offers it.
Who checks quality
Prince Edward Island does not run a separate degree-quality-assurance board the way Ontario or British Columbia do. The right to grant a degree, diploma or certificate comes directly from the act that established each institution.
External benchmarking happens through national membership bodies: UPEI belongs to Universities Canada, and Holland College belongs to Colleges and Institutes Canada. If you want to check how a PEI credential compares internationally, the Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials is the reference body for that.
Choosing between a university and a career college
UPEI suits you if your goal is a bachelor's degree, graduate study, or a regulated profession such as veterinary medicine or nursing that requires a degree. Holland College suits you if you want to start working sooner in a specific trade or technical field, with the option to add a degree later through a pathway agreement.
Program length, cost and the credential you end up with differ sharply between the two, so match the institution to the career outcome you want rather than the other way around.
A small private institution, Maritime Christian College in Charlottetown, also operates in the province, offering Bible college programs. It sits outside the public UPEI and Holland College system described above.
Campuses across the Island
Holland College spreads across four hubs: the Charlottetown area (Prince of Wales Campus, the Tourism and Culinary Centre and the Belmont Centre), Summerside (Waterfront Campus, the Atlantic Police Academy and the Marine Training Centre), Alberton in West Prince, and Three Rivers (Georgetown Centre and Montague Centre). UPEI teaches from a single main campus in Charlottetown, with the Atlantic Veterinary College on the same site. Where you study inside PEI often comes down to which campus teaches your specific program, not just which institution you pick.
Moving between institutions
Credit transfer between Holland College and UPEI, and between PEI institutions and universities in other provinces, runs through published articulation agreements rather than a single province-wide transfer system. Check the receiving institution's transfer credit office before you assume a course or diploma counts toward a specific program.
The academic year
Both UPEI and Holland College run a two-term academic year, September to December and January to April, with spring and summer options in some programs. Full-time study normally means four to five courses a term at UPEI, or a fixed program schedule at Holland College.