Opticianry Diploma is a diploma in Optometry programme offered by Douglas College in New Westminster, Canada. The programme runs for 2 years, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition is CAD 6,300 per total for local students.
At a glance
Degree:Diploma
Field:Optometry
Duration: 2 years
Delivery: On Campus
Language: English
Local tuition: CAD 6,300 / total
Information for the 2027/28 academic year · Last reviewed September 2026 ·
Program details
Overview
The Opticianry Diploma combines health care, business, fashion and technology. You’ll study all areas of modern opticianry, including eyeglasses, contact lenses and refraction technologies. Upon graduation, you’ll be ready to take the College of Opticians exam, which is a required step in becoming a licensed optician in B.C.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: The general college admission requirements, secondary-school graduation or its equivalent, and any Math 11 at C- or better or the equivalent. Two three-credit university-transfer courses completed successfully may be substituted for secondary-school graduation. You must also submit a completed and signed optical tour form, and Douglas may require a personal interview for information and academic clarification. A criminal record check is a condition of entry, because training takes place in an environment that requires proof of a current satisfactory check to protect clients; the applicant pays for it. The programme page carries an international application block. International applicants must also clear Douglas's separately published international entry standard on top of anything listed here: for undergraduate study that is a final-year school average of at least 60 percent (or one of the college's age routes) plus Grade 11 Mathematics at C for most programmes, and for post-degree and post-baccalaureate study a bachelor's degree of at least three years with a cumulative average of at least 60 percent. The international English minimums are TOEFL iBT 83 (writing 21 or better for post-degree and post-baccalaureate credentials), IELTS Academic 6.5 with no band under 6.0 for those same credentials, PTE Academic 56, Duolingo 110, CAEL 60, CLB 8 in each skill, Cambridge CAE 75, Cambridge CPE 60, or EIKEN Grade 1.
Application Details
Start Date:Douglas runs three fifteen-week semesters a year: Fall from September to December, Winter from January to April and Summer from May to August. The programme page lists intakes in Fall (September). The Fall 2026 semester began on 8 September 2026 and Winter 2027 classes begin on 4 January 2027.
Application Deadline:Douglas publishes college-wide application windows rather than a single date for every programme, and the domestic and international timetables are different. DOMESTIC APPLICANTS apply on EducationPlannerBC. Applications for a semester open about eleven months ahead, at 9:00 a.m. on the first business day of the opening month: 1 October for the following Fall. The programme page does not label this open- or limited-enrolment, so check on EducationPlannerBC whether the intake you want is still accepting applications before you rely on the general open-enrolment closing date. INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS follow Douglas’s separate college-wide dates, not the domestic ones: the Fall (September) 2026 intake closed on 31 May 2026, Winter (January) 2027 closes on 30 September 2026, and Summer (May) 2027 closes on 31 January 2027. Limited-enrolment programmes can fill before those dates and open-enrolment ones last only while seats do, so Douglas advises applying early enough to leave room for a study-permit application. Read from the programme page and the college deadline pages on 6 September 2026; Douglas had not yet published Summer 2027 domestic closing dates.
