Offered by Conestoga College in Kitchener, Canada, HD in Respiratory Therapy is a higher diploma in Health Sciences programme. The programme runs for 3 years, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 15,477 per year (CAD 3,378 per year for local students).
The three-year program is built to meet the educational requirements for registration as a Registered Respiratory Therapist, with its curriculum aligned to the National Competency Framework for Respiratory Therapy. Instruction combines classroom education, laboratory sessions, immersive clinical simulation, e-learning and early clinical exposure. In levels five and six, work-integrated learning placements take place at healthcare partner sites across Southern Ontario, alongside hands-on practical assessments built to prepare students for what the role actually demands.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Direct entry requires an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent, or mature student status at 19 or older. Required Grade 12/11 subjects: compulsory English (C or U); Mathematics (C or U, or Preparatory Mathematics MATH1420); Physics (Grade 11 or 12, C or U); Chemistry (Grade 11 or 12, C or U, or Preparatory Chemistry SCIE1030); and Biology (Grade 11 or 12, C or U, or Preparatory Biology SCIE1010) - Conestoga recommends Biology be completed within five years and Grade 11 Chemistry at the U level. Requirements can also be met by completing Conestoga's two-term pre-health sciences (degree stream) program plus Grade 11/12 Physics. This advanced diploma is one of Conestoga's named exception programs, so applicants whose prior instruction was not in English must meet a higher standard: IELTS Academic overall 6.5 (no band below 6.0), TOEFL iBT 88 (no skill below 22), PTE Academic 58, or Duolingo 120. The program runs an accelerated third-year completion in December.
Application Details
Start Date:September
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.
