Trades - Apprenticeship in Automotive Service Technician: Apprenticeship is a trades - apprenticeship in Mechanical Engineering programme offered by Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, Canada. The programme runs for 7 weeks, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition is CAD 118 per total for local students.
This program delivers the technical training component of the Automotive Service Technician apprenticeship for students already registered with SkilledTradesBC and sponsored by an employer. The apprenticeship spans four years, combining roughly 6,360 hours of paid, on-the-job work experience with a total of about seven weeks of in-class technical instruction at VIU's Nanaimo campus each year. The technical training is organized into four levels: Level 1 covers shop safety, basic tools, steering and suspension, brake systems, and electrical fundamentals; Level 2 covers gasoline and diesel engines and starting/charging systems along with air conditioning; Level 3 covers ignition systems, fuel delivery and injection, and emission controls; and Level 4 covers transmissions, drivetrain systems, and related administrative requirements. Each level builds on skills gained through the previous level and concurrent employment. On completing all four levels and the required work-based hours, apprentices are eligible to write the Interprovincial Red Seal examination, leading to nationally recognized journeyperson certification. The program is intended solely for apprentices with an active employer sponsor, not for students seeking initial entry to the trade.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Entry to this Automotive Service Technician apprenticeship requires the applicant to have successfully completed the previous apprenticeship level, to be registered as an apprentice with SkilledTradesBC, and to be actively tracking work-based training hours with an employer sponsor. The page does not set out separate academic prerequisites, an age floor, or an English-language test score, and no IELTS, TOEFL or other figure is published for this level. No portfolio, interview or physical-fitness condition is stated. As with VIU's other automotive apprenticeship levels, admission runs through the SkilledTradesBC registration and employer-sponsorship chain rather than a conventional academic entrance requirement.
Application Details
Application Deadline:Domestic (Canadian) applicants apply through EducationPlannerBC; Vancouver Island University sets no institution-wide equal-consideration date, and its admissions FAQ states deadlines vary by programme, with applications for most academic programmes opening 1 October in the year before a September start. VIU publishes no general closing date for that window; applicants are directed to each programme's own page for its own deadline. International applicants use the same portal; VIU publishes no international-specific institution-wide date either, and several health programmes (Practical Nursing, Nursing Unit Assistant) are stated as not currently open to international students. Each programme's own page carries its own Start Date, Deadlines, and Additional Application Details table for the 2026-27 cycle, and admission for programmes without a stated window is treated as ongoing/rolling until the intake fills. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
