Metal Fabricator Foundation Certificate is a foundation in Trades programme taught at British Columbia Institute of Technology in Burnaby, Canada. The programme runs for 23 weeks, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition is CAD 13,800 per total for local students.
This certificate program introduces students to steel fabrication, covering the selection, layout, shearing, cutting, punching, drilling, forming, fitting, and welding of steel plates and structural steel shapes used across the forestry, mining, construction, transportation, and agriculture industries. Delivered full-time over 23 weeks (46 credits) at BCIT's Burnaby campus on a 0700-1330 Monday-to-Friday schedule, the program runs intakes in March and September, with an additional February intake for high-school cohorts. Instruction combines theory with extensive hands-on shop practice and lab work, culminating in a capstone project. The program is open to international students, though they cannot continue into the subsequent apprenticeship programs. On completion, graduates may seek entry-level employment as metal fabricators or progress into the Metal Fabricator Apprenticeship, once indentured with SkilledTradesBC, or into the Marine Fitter Apprenticeship. Student completion records are transferred to SkilledTradesBC so graduates receive apprenticeship credit. The program suits newcomers to the trade who want a structured, campus-based introduction to metal fabrication before entering paid employment or apprenticeship in the field.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Applicants must meet Category 3 English proficiency, English Studies 12 at 50% or equivalent, or pass the BCIT English Trades Entry Assessment. Mathematics is met by Foundations of Math and Pre-Calculus 10 at 50%, Workplace Math 10 at 50%, another acceptable BC or Yukon course, or the BCIT Math Trades Entry Assessment. Applications are accepted year-round and are considered on a first-qualified basis as space remains. The page notes good hand/eye coordination and good physical condition are desirable, and directs applicants with medical or physical difficulties to BCIT Accessibility Services. No portfolio, interview, or admission-GPA condition is stated; the program does separately require a 70% overall grade point average and a 50% minimum passing grade per course to complete the 23-week program, but this is a graduation standard rather than an entry requirement. The program is open to international applicants, though they cannot continue into apprenticeship training afterward.
Application Details
Start Date:March and September
Application Deadline:BCIT publishes common credential application dates for most cohort-based diplomas, degrees and Flexible Learning routes, though each program's own page governs: for the January 2027 intake domestic applications run 1 February 2026 to 2 January 2027 and international to 1 November 2026; for the April 2027 intake domestic runs 1 May 2026 to 1 April 2027 and international to 1 February 2027; for September 2027 domestic applications open 1 October 2026 and close 1 September 2027, international 2 July 2027. Openings are 9:00 am and deadlines 11:59 pm Pacific Time, moving to the next business day on a weekend. Admission is not institute-wide rolling, but many programs work first-qualified-first-accepted and can fill before the posted deadline, and several programs, mostly in Health Sciences, trades and graduate studies, run entirely separate application tables of their own. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
