At Coast Mountain College in Terrace, Canada, Automotive Service Technician Foundation Certificate is offered as a foundation in Trades programme. The programme runs for 30 weeks, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition is CAD 2,500 per total for local students.
This foundation-level certificate programme introduces students to the fundamentals of automotive repair, covering safety practices, tool and equipment use, and workplace communication alongside diagnostic and repair work on driveline, electrical, steering and suspension, restraint, and body systems, with an added unit on hybrid and electric vehicle diagnosis. Delivered full-time over 30 weeks at the Terrace campus, the programme combines classroom theory with hands-on shop instruction intended to give students the first-year technical and practical grounding toward the Automotive Service Technician credential. It is a pre-apprenticeship offering rather than a registered apprenticeship, aimed at those without prior automotive training who want to enter the trade. Admission expects Grade 12 completion or mature student status, along with English Studies 10 and Apprenticeship Workplace Math 10 (or an equivalent assessment), with some flexibility possible at instructor discretion. Graduates are positioned for entry-level roles such as apprentice automotive service technicians, lube technicians, tire repair technicians, parts persons, and brake and muffler installers, giving them a practical route into automotive service work before progressing into a formal apprenticeship. The programme suits recent secondary graduates and career-changers seeking a structured introduction to vehicle maintenance and repair.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Coast Mountain College's Automotive Service Technician Foundation Certificate requires Grade 12 graduation or mature-student status, English Studies 10, English First Peoples 10, or equivalent, and either Apprenticeship Workplace Math 10 or higher, a passing CAT Assessment Test score, or permission of the instructor. The page notes many employers require full Grade 12 completion beyond the admission minimum. No standardized English-language test score is set by the program itself. English proficiency is required of every applicant regardless of citizenship. International applicants who have not completed senior secondary education, including a pass in English 12, in a designated English-speaking country must present an approved test score, with minimums tiered by program: IELTS Academic overall 6.0 (bands 5.0-6.0), TOEFL iBT overall 72-80, PTE Academic overall 52-57, CAEL overall 50-60, or Duolingo English Test overall 105-115.
Application Details
Start Date:September
Application Deadline:Coast Mountain College runs one common application calendar across its campuses rather than a single date per programme. Domestic applicants: for the 2026-27 academic year, applications opened 1 October 2026; the final day to apply is 24 December 2026 for Winter (January 2027) entry, 23 April 2027 for Spring/Summer 2027, and 30 August 2027 for Fall 2027. International applicants share the same opening date but face earlier cut-offs: 1 October 2026 for Winter, 1 February 2027 for Spring/Summer, and 1 June 2027 for Fall, and some high-demand programmes may close sooner. Trades and other varying-start programmes are judged against their own start dates (international due three months, domestic one week, before start), and continuous-intake programmes accept applications year-round. No single closing date exists beyond these cut-offs. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
