At Sheridan College in Oakville, Canada, Diploma in Visual and Creative Arts is offered as a diploma in Arts, Design & Architecture programme. The programme runs for 2 years, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 20,535 per year (CAD 5,577 per year for local students).
Visual and Creative Arts is a two-year Ontario College Diploma offered by Sheridan College at its Trafalgar Campus in Oakville. The program provides foundational studio training in drawing, painting, sculpture, two- and three-dimensional design and colour theory, taught by practising professional artists in the college's studio facilities, which are shared with Sheridan's degree programs in animation and illustration. The first two semesters cover core courses in observational drawing, design fundamentals, painting and colour theory; the final two semesters shift to elective studio courses that let students specialize in areas such as digital media, figurative work or three-dimensional design. Students also complete an Essential Communication Skills course that meets a requirement shared with Sheridan's degree programs, supporting progression into further study. Work from the program is shown publicly at the Visual and Creative Arts Graduate Exhibition. The diploma suits students who want broad, hands-on grounding across multiple visual art disciplines before committing to a specialization, whether they plan to enter freelance design, fine art, gallery work or photography directly after graduating or continue into a related Sheridan degree program.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Direct entry requires an Ontario Secondary School Diploma or equivalent, including Grade 12 English at the ENG4C or ENG4U level; Workplace 'E' courses do not count. Eligible applicants are selected on the average of their six highest senior-level credits, including the required course. Applicants aged 19 or older without the standard prerequisites may apply as mature students through Sheridan's Academic Upgrading program. No portfolio or interview is required. The programme defers to Sheridan's institution-wide English Proficiency Requirement for diploma and certificate programs: IELTS Academic overall 6.0 with no band below 5.5, TOEFL iBT overall 80 with no section below 20, PTE Academic overall 58 with no section below 49, Duolingo English Test overall 105 with no subscore below 85, or CAEL overall 60 with no section below 50, all valid for two years. The program's Essential Communications Skills course can satisfy English requirements for students later transferring into a degree program.
Application Details
Start Date:Sheridan runs three terms a year - Fall starting in September, Winter in January and Spring/Summer in May. For 2026-27 the Fall term ran 8 September to 18 December 2026, Winter runs 6 January to 16 April 2027, and Spring/Summer runs 3 May to 13 August 2027. On 6 September 2026 this program's own page listed a single intake, September 2026, at the Trafalgar Campus in Oakville. Sheridan's Start date table also carries a separate Domestic and International status for each intake (Available, Waitlisted or Closed) that changes as seats fill, so check this program's page on sheridancollege.ca before you apply.
Application Deadline:Sheridan publishes no deadline of its own for this program; the dates below are the college-wide ones. DOMESTIC APPLICANTS (Canadian citizens and permanent residents) apply through ontariocolleges.ca, which opened the Fall 2027 application on 26 September 2026 - Sheridan says it starts receiving those applications in early October for the academic year that follows. The equal consideration date is 1 February: apply on or before it and your file is weighed alongside every other one received by then for a Fall-term start, so for the cycle now open that means 1 February 2027 for entry in September 2027. Sheridan still accepts applications after that date wherever a program has not filled, but they are handled in the order they arrive, which leaves little room in high-demand programs. First offers for a September start may go out from 1 November; programs that require a portfolio, audition or resume begin issuing decisions later in March, and offers for the Winter and Spring/Summer intakes are made on a rolling basis. Confirm a Fall offer at ontariocolleges.ca by 1 May, or by the date printed on an offer issued after that, then pay the tuition deposit three months before the term begins. INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS apply instead through Sheridan's own International Application Portal, and Sheridan publishes no deadline for them - its Important Dates table carries only a note that the international dates are still to be posted. What limits an international application in practice is space: Sheridan tells international applicants to check that a program still has room before applying, and every program page shows a separate International status for each intake. Apply as early as you can and leave time for a study permit. Confirm the current dates at sheridancollege.ca and ontariocolleges.ca before you apply.
