At Camosun College in Victoria, Canada, Health Care Assistant Certificate is offered as a certificate in Health Sciences programme. The programme runs for 28 weeks, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 14,151 per total (CAD 3,200 per total for local students).
At a glance
Degree:Certificate
Field:Health Sciences
Duration: 28 weeks
Delivery: On Campus
Language: English
Local tuition: CAD 3,200 / total
International tuition: CAD 14,151 / total
Last checked September 2026 · Source: camosun.ca ·
Program details
Overview
Built around a provincially developed curriculum, the certificate develops the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to work as a front-line caregiver and respected healthcare team member across community and facility settings. Guided by a health professional's direction, graduates deliver person-centred care that supports clients' physical, emotional, cognitive and social wellbeing. Full-time clinical placements are required, including day and evening shifts that may fall outside regular class hours.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Evidence of all of the following is needed before acceptance. Proof of Grade 10 completion or its equivalent, or mature-student status. Attendance at a Health Care Assistant information session, which has an online module for anyone who cannot attend in person. AND a specific English competency standard set for B.C. Health Care Assistant programmes, which splits applicants by how they were educated rather than by citizenship. Applicants with at least three years of full-time secondary or post-secondary study in English at a recognised institution in an approved English-speaking country (counted from grade 8, with ESL courses excluded) need one of: English 11 at C, the Camosun English 11 alternative at C, or ACCUPLACER Next Generation results of Reading 250, Writing 245 and WritePlacer 5. Applicants without those three years must sit a standardised test: CLB Placement Test taken within the last year at Listening 7, Speaking 7, Reading 6, Writing 6 (a CLB report card from a LINC programme may also be accepted); or, taken within the last two years, IELTS Academic or General at 6.0 overall with Speaking and Listening at 6.0 and nothing below 5.5 in Reading or Writing; CAEL at 60 overall with no section under 50; TOEFL iBT at 76 overall with Speaking and Listening at 20 or better and Reading and Writing at 18 or better; or CELPIP General at Listening 7, Speaking 7, Reading 6, Writing 6. INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS have one extra entry requirement the programme states explicitly: a clear police certificate from their country of origin. They must also clear Camosun's general college English standard (IELTS Academic 6.0 with no sub-score under 6.0, TOEFL iBT 78 with no sub-score under 19, PTE Academic 54 with no sub-score under 50, Cambridge C1 Advanced 174 with no sub-score under 169, or CAEL CE 60 with no component under 60), which is higher than the Health Care Assistant minimums in several bands, because the college applies its general standard even where a programme page shows a lower one. Camosun sets aside priority seats for qualified Indigenous applicants in its Health Sciences and Human Services programmes for part of each year, under a process approved by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.
Application Details
Start Date:Three starts a year: September (Fall term), January (Winter term) and May (Summer term). Limited (seated) enrolment: the cohort is capped and a waitlist is normally opened once qualified applicants outnumber seats.
Application Deadline:Limited-enrolment (seated) programme: Camosun publishes an opening date but no closing date, and applications can be shut at any point once the waitlist outgrows the seats on offer. DOMESTIC APPLICANTS: the Winter 2027 (January) window opened 15 January 2026, the Summer 2027 (May) window opened 15 May 2026 and the Fall 2027 (September) window opens 1 October 2026. Offers are issued first-qualified, first-served — for September-start seated programmes they begin going out in February — so apply as early as you can and check Camosun's Program Availability page for the live status before you apply. INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS have separate deadlines: 1 June for a September (Fall) start, 1 October for January (Winter) and 1 February for May (Summer). Those dates hold only while seats remain, so a popular intake can close sooner; a later application may still be looked at if seats are open and there is time to obtain a study permit. Seats in a capped programme often go before those dates, so contact International Admissions to confirm one is free. Domestic and international applicants both apply online through EducationPlannerBC (apply.educationplannerbc.ca/camosun).
