Offered by University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, Canada, Culinary Arts Certificate is a foundation in Culinary Arts programme. The programme runs for 39 weeks, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition is CAD 138 per credit for local students.
This certificate trains students for cook careers across a range of kitchen settings, from small restaurants to large hotels and health care institutions. Delivered full-time over 39 weeks at UFV's Trades and Technology Centre in Chilliwack, instruction covers food safety and sanitation, knife skills, equipment care, cooking methods, banquet planning, a la carte service, dining service skills, and menu planning and costing. Students gain hands-on kitchen experience in the Rivers' Dining Room under the supervision of professional chefs. As part of the program, students are registered as cook apprentices with Skilled Trades BC, and eligible graduates may sit the Professional Cook One and Professional Cook Two Certificate of Qualification exams. The program suits people beginning a culinary career who want structured, supervised kitchen training leading toward recognized cook qualifications, with potential career paths in restaurants, hotels, cruise ships, resorts and institutional kitchens. Applicants should be prepared for physically demanding kitchen work, including lifting heavy items and standing for extended periods.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Open entry on paper, but with three hurdles. ACADEMIC BASIS: B.C. secondary school graduation or an equivalent, or mature-student standing at 19 or older - secondary graduation is only recommended, not compulsory. MATHS: Mathematics 10 or higher at C or better - Foundations of Mathematics, Pre-calculus, Apprenticeship and Workplace Mathematics, MATH 072 and MATH 076 all qualify, or a pass on UFV's own trades maths entrance exam, which you book through ufv.ca/trades/entrance-exam. Anyone more than three years out of formal schooling is urged to sit the maths assessment first; upgrading can usually run alongside the programme. ENGLISH: English Studies 12 or English First Peoples 12 at C or better (Communications 12, English 12, English Literature 12, AP English, IB English A or an out-of-province equivalent also count), or Accuplacer Reading 80 with WritePlacer 5 or better on the 8-point scale, or UFV's CPT at 41, or TOEFL iBT 80 with no section under 19, or any other score on UFV's Entry-level English list. Applicants who miss the English bar are offered Adult Basic Education, English Language Studies or the University Foundation certificate first. INTERVIEW: this programme adds a personal interview, in which your suitability for and interest in the cooking industry are discussed. APPLYING: continuous application through ufv.ca/admissions/apply, with seats given out in order of recorded application date; Grade 12 students may apply during their graduating year with a letter from a counsellor or principal, and produce the transcript before a seat is confirmed. Note that UFV's programme list marks this trades programme as not open to international applicants.
Application Details
Start Date:August
Application Deadline:Domestic applicants apply directly to UFV: applications for Fall (September) 2027 entry open 1 October 2026, for Winter (January) 2027 entry opened 1 May 2026, and for Summer (May) 2027 entry open 1 October 2026; UFV publishes no closing date for any of these and instead admits many programmes strictly in application-date order once every required document has arrived, so applying soon after opening matters more than any deadline. Grade 12 students may apply from 1 October of their graduating year and must send final transcripts by 3 August. International applicants use UFV International's own windows - 1 October to 31 May for Fall, 1 May to 31 October for Winter and 1 October to 1 March for Summer - and are likewise assessed on a rolling, first-arrived basis until each programme fills. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
