Cert in Culinary Skills (Co-Op) is a certificate in Culinary Arts programme offered by Conestoga College in Kitchener, Canada. The programme runs for 1 year, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 15,477 per year (CAD 2,750 per year for local students).
At a glance
Degree:Certificate
Field:Culinary Arts
Duration: 1 year
Delivery: On Campus
Language: English
Local tuition: CAD 2,750 / year
International tuition: CAD 15,477 / year
Information for the 2027/28 academic year · Last reviewed September 2026 ·
Program details
Overview
Culinary Skills is a one-year Ontario College Certificate (two academic terms plus one co-op term) delivered in hybrid format at Conestoga's Waterloo campus. The program blends classic techniques with modern culinary trends through live-action demonstrations, lectures and immersive kitchen practice, building foundations from knife skills to plating artistry. A four-month paid co-op placement connects students with food-service employers to gain workplace experience and build a professional network.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Direct entry requires an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD), or equivalent, or applicant age 19 or older under mature-student status, plus Grade 12 compulsory English at C or U (or equivalent, or Conestoga's Preparatory Communications COMM1251); no separate mathematics prerequisite is listed for this certificate. The program's admissions page does not publish its own English test-score table and instead defers to Conestoga's college-wide scale: IELTS Academic overall 6.0 with no band under 5.5, TOEFL iBT 80 with no skill under 20, PTE Academic 53, CAEL 70 with writing at least 60, or Duolingo English Test 110. Canadian citizens and permanent residents with transcripts from outside Canada require a course-by-course credential evaluation through ICAS or WES. Continuing into the co-op work term needs a minimum 65% session weighted average plus completion of the Co-op and Career Preparation and Sanitation and Safety courses, and students under 18 are barred from serving alcohol in the Restaurant Operations class under Ontario regulation.
Application Details
Application Deadline:Domestic applicants apply through ontariocolleges.ca (college code CONS): for the Fall 2027 intake the online application opens 26 September 2026, the equal consideration date is 1 February 2027, offers may be issued from 1 November 2026, and accepted offers must be confirmed by 1 May 2027; most oversubscribed programs stop accepting applications after 1 February 2027, though many programs remain open afterward. Conestoga does not publish a separate equal-consideration date for its January intake. International applicants apply directly to Conestoga and are assessed on a rolling, first-come, first-served basis until each program fills; no fixed international closing date is published. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
