Diploma in Paramedic at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada is a diploma in Medicine & Health programme. The programme runs for 2 years, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English.
At a glance
Degree:Diploma
Field:Medicine & Health
Duration: 2 years
Delivery: On Campus
Language: English
We have no tuition fees on record for this programme yet.
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Information for the 2027/28 academic year · Last reviewed September 2026 ·
Program details
Overview
Overview Bring your leadership to the dynamic field of Paramedicine. Graduates from this top-rated Paramedic Ontario College Diploma program are ready for success in the workforce. Paramedics fill a critical role in our health care system with employment opportunities in rural and urban paramedic services. This program combines applied and theoretical experiences to provide you with all the necessary skills. In this program you learn all aspects of Paramedicine, how to deal with emergencies, and develop the means to communicate with patients, family members and healthcare professionals. In the final term of the program, you get the chance to put your knowledge and skills into practice through a paramedic practicum experience. It is in this setting that you experience a wide variety of calls and are able to display proficiency working as a necessary member of a team. This 420-hour practicum provides you with the opportunity work and learn alongside active paramedics. The program is delivered through: in-class theory online learning practical/laboratory courses high-fidelity simulation hospital clinicals practicums At the conclusion of the program, you are able to write the Ontario Advanced Emergency Medical Care Attendant exam. After graduating, you may be employed in Paramedic Services throughout Ontario and Canada. Graduates may also choose to continue their studies to obtain advanced training to practice at higher levels of paramedicine.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Algonquin publishes these requirements for the Sept 2027 - Aug 2028 admissions year on this program's own page; the requirements for Sept 2026 - Aug 2027 are shown separately there and can differ. Program code 0620X01FWO. All applicants must satisfy both College Eligibility and Program Eligibility.
COLLEGE ELIGIBILITY: an OSSD or equivalent - though an OSSD showing senior English or Mathematics at the Basic Level, or in Workplace or Open courses, triggers testing to establish eligibility; or an Academic and Career Entrance (ACE) certificate; or a General Educational Development (GED) certificate; or mature-student standing at 19 or older without a high-school diploma when the program starts, which may be settled by academic achievement testing for a fee. Both college and program eligibility must be met.
PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY: Grade 12 English (ENG4C or equivalent) at 70% or better; Grade 12 Mathematics (MAP4C or equivalent) at 70% or better; Biology at Grade 11 or 12 at 70% or better; Chemistry at Grade 11 or 12 at 70% or better.
Every applicant must also sit the Algonquin College Health Program Admissions Test (AC-HPAT) at the Test Centre and pay an exam fee. The result is used both to set minimum eligibility and to rank applicants, and it may be written only once per academic cycle.
Applicants presenting transcripts from outside Canada must document the subjects above and may be asked for evidence of language proficiency; a domestic applicant holding international transcripts must have them assessed by the International Credential Assessment Service of Canada (ICAS) or World Education Services (WES).
ENGLISH: Academic IELTS 6.5 overall with nothing under 6.0 in any band; or TOEFL iBT 88 overall with 22 in each of reading, listening, speaking and writing where the test was sat before 21 January 2026, or 4.5 overall with 4.5 in each section where it was sat after that date; or a Duolingo English Test score of 120 overall with 120 in Literacy and nothing under 105.
INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS: those who meet the program eligibility are additionally required to complete a four-month preparatory course, Introduction to Canadian Health Studies (ICHS), and move into this program afterwards; entry to ICHS requires an academic IELTS score.
AFTER ACCEPTANCE: three items must reach the department before 1 August - a Standard First Aid certificate together with current Basic Cardiac Life Support / CPR (or CPR HCP) certification; the signed Mandatory Paramedic Information Sheet; and a Criminal Record Check with vulnerable sector screening, for which applicants must be 18.
Application Details
Start Date:Intake terms Algonquin lists for this program, read from its own availability table on 6 September 2026: Fall 2026 (AC Day 1 orientation 8 September 2026; Fall term classes start 9 September 2026); Winter 2027 (most classes start 11 January 2027). Term start dates come from the Registrar's Important Dates page, which also gives 11 January 2027 for the Winter 2027 term and 10 May 2027 for the Spring 2027 term. Availability changes as seats fill and an intake already under way may be closed, so check the program page before applying. Algonquin's academic year runs September to August.
Application Deadline:DOMESTIC APPLICANTS (Canadian citizens and permanent residents). Algonquin publishes no deadline unique to this program; the dates below are the college-wide Ontario colleges cycle and apply to every full-time day program. Applications go through ontariocolleges.ca, where 1 February is the equal consideration date each cycle: apply by then and your application is assessed alongside every other one received by that date, while applications arriving later are handled first-come, first-served for as long as places remain. For entry in Fall 2027 the ontariocolleges.ca application opened on 26 September 2026, colleges may begin issuing offers on 1 November 2026, the equal consideration date is 1 February 2027 and an offer must be accepted by 1 May 2027. The equal consideration date that governed the Fall 2026, Winter 2027 and Spring 2027 intakes was 1 February 2026 and has already passed, so those three starts are now first-come, first-served while seats last. Algonquin flags this program as competitive, which makes the 1 February date matter: qualified applicants who applied by then are rank-ordered on their screening results and offers go down that list, and everyone after it is admitted only while space remains or is waitlisted by date of application. This program also requires the Algonquin College Health Program Admissions Test (AC-HPAT); Algonquin asks for the assessment to be completed by 12 February to be included in the ranking.
INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS. Apply directly to Algonquin on the International Application Form in its International Application Portal (AC360) rather than through ontariocolleges.ca, with a CAD 135 application fee. There is no single fixed international deadline: Algonquin asks you to confirm the program is open before applying, warns that a program's status can change to waitlisted or closed before an admissions officer reviews the file, and publishes a closing-date sheet for each intake. For the Fall 2026 intake that sheet gives this program's own dates: 16 September 2026 is the last day to apply on the International Application Portal and receive an acceptance, and 21 September 2026 is the last day to register.
