Offered by Nicola Valley Institute of Technology in Merritt, Canada, Trades - Apprenticeship in Professional Cook 1 & 2: Culinary Arts Program is a trades - apprenticeship in Arts, Design & Architecture programme. The programme runs for 35 weeks, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition is CAD 3,894 per total for local students.
This program builds the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to serve effectively as culinary professionals and leaders within the field, with a deeper understanding of Indigenous culture and food traditions. Level 1 has graduates working under a culinary professional's supervision across kitchen tasks such as basic menu planning and costing; desserts, baking, and pastry; cold kitchen items; and the preparation and presentation of poultry, fish, meat, sauces, soups, and vegetables, along with knowledge of food storage, sanitation, and safety. Level 2 has apprentices engage with Indigenous culture via traditional methods of gathering and preparing food, weaving Indigenous knowledge and practices throughout the program and building occupational knowledge of the relevant provincial and federal codes, statutes, and standards.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Level 1 entry requires B.C. secondary school graduation or equivalent, or being 19 years of age and out of secondary school for at least one year by the first day of classes, and applicants must be at least 16 years old. English is met by English 10, English 10 First Peoples, an equivalent Provincial-level Adult Basic Education English course, or an equivalent assessment. Mathematics is met by Apprenticeship and Workplace Math 10, Foundations of Math and Pre-Calculus 10, Principles of Math 10, an equivalent Provincial-level ABE course, or an equivalent assessment. Applicants must submit a copy of a FoodSafe Level I certificate. No IELTS, TOEFL, or other standardized English-language test score is published for this program. Level 2 admission is reached by completing Level 1, with no separate entry criteria listed. The program is delivered at the Merritt campus, starting in September, in the Fall term.
Application Details
Start Date:September
Application Deadline:NVIT accepts domestic applications on a rolling basis: general Fall-term applications are targeted by 31 July and Spring-term applications by 30 November each year, with offers issued in the order applications are completed and, if seats remain, continued acceptance up to the program start date. NVIT does not currently admit new international students for most programs: its Provincial Attestation Letter allocation was set at zero for 2025-2026, so new international applications are accepted only from Indigenous Peoples (per UNDRIP), Jay Treaty applicants, and permanent residents, who apply through EducationPlannerBC. NVIT publishes no international application deadline for these routes, and whether the zero-allocation restriction still holds for 2026-2027 was not confirmed on a page carrying that year. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
