HD in Advertising and Marketing Communications Management is a higher diploma in Business Administration programme taught at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada. The programme runs for 3 years, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition is CAD 2,818 per semester for local students.
At a glance
Degree:Higher Diploma
Field:Business Administration
Duration: 3 years
Delivery: On Campus
Language: English
Local tuition: CAD 2,818 / semester
Information for the 2027/28 academic year · Last reviewed September 2026 ·
Program details
Overview
Overview Unleash your creativity and unlock the potential of marketing communications. The three-year Advertising and Marketing Communications Management Ontario College Advanced Diploma program prepares you to take your career into many industries. By combining marketing theory and creative messaging, this industry-respected program enables you to develop skills in campaign planning, idea conceptualization, copywriting, and advertising design. You also develop integrated marketing communications strategies by researching what drives target audiences and planning how to reach them effectively. Experienced industry-connected faculty prepare you to plan, create, and implement marketing communications. Class projects work on real advertising and marketing communications opportunities with industry clients. As well, alumni and industry leaders act as guest speakers in every semester. Put classroom theory to work through hands-on creation in one of the second-year student-run business unit teams: The award-winning Algonquin Times: where teams work on websites, eNewsletters, social media channels, and events. DIG: the student-run ad agency where every client has a unique problem to be solved. SLiDE: the marketing department for the College's social innovation lab that works with entrepreneurs and social enterprises. This program encourages you to expand your learning and network through optional class trips. You have the unique opportunity to tour select advertising and marketing agencies in Canadian hubs like Montreal or Toronto. At the end of the program, take your experience a step further with a six-week field placement within the advertising and marketing communications industries. This experience applies your program learning to help you succeed in this fast-paced and ever-evolving industry. There are many job opportunities for graduates of this program. You may find employment with advertising agencies or any organization that has a marketing, communications, media, or promotions department. You might even launch your own marketing communications company.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Applicants need an OSSD or equivalent (or mature-student status: 19 or older and without a high-school diploma, assessed by a fee-based academic achievement test), plus Grade 12 English (ENG4C or equivalent) at 70% or higher and Grade 11 Mathematics (MBF3C or equivalent); no overall grade-point average is published. Applicants with international transcripts must document the same English and Mathematics prerequisites and, where required, prove English proficiency: Academic IELTS overall 6.5 with no band under 6.0, or TOEFL iBT overall 88 with 22 per component (pre-21-January-2026 tests) or 4.5 overall with 4.5 per component (tests after that date), or a Duolingo score of 120 overall with 120 in Literacy and nothing below 105. If qualified applicants exceed the places available, Algonquin selects on the basis of English and Mathematics proficiency, making entry competitive in high-demand intakes.
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). 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.
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. Note that this program's own availability table carries a single availability column rather than a separate international one, and the program is not listed on Algonquin's page of programs available to international students; confirm with the International Education Centre before applying from outside Canada.
