English Name: Algonquin College
Founded: 1967
Institution Type: Higher education institution
Algonquin College is a public polytechnic institution based in Ottawa, Ontario, with a second campus in Pembroke and a substantial slate of programs delivered fully online.
It organizes teaching into schools covering Business and Hospitality, Science and Applied Technology, Architecture, Construction and Civil Engineering, Media and Design, Health Sciences, Public Protection and Safety, Wellness, Safety and Community, and Creative Studies, spanning fields such as accounting, computing and robotics, building trades, animation and game development, nursing and paramedicine, police foundations and firefighting, early childhood education, and Indigenous studies. Credentials range from one-year Ontario College Certificates through two-year Diplomas, three-year Advanced Diplomas, and post-graduate Certificates, up to four-year Honours Degrees, plus apprenticeship training and short non-credential courses.
Many programs run full-time, part-time, or online, and a number carry Post-Graduation Work Permit eligibility for international students. Co-op is built into a range of programs, combining academic terms with paid, structured work placements, and the college offers pathways that let diploma or certificate holders, such as Registered Practical Nurses, progress into its own honours degrees.
Algonquin serves recent secondary-school graduates, career-changers, and a large international student population seeking applied, industry-linked training across technical, creative, health, and public-safety fields.
Find Algonquin College on the map and its contact channels below.
Enrolment, faculty headcount, and accreditation data for Algonquin College are listed below.
Academic Year: Runs September to August in three terms: Fall (2026 classes begin 9 September 2026, after AC Day 1 orientation on 8 September 2026), Winter (2027 classes begin 11 January 2027) and Spring (2027 classes begin 10 May 2027). Program pages quote fees by academic year - the current one is 2026/2027 - and publish admission requirements separately for the Sept 2026-Aug 2027 and Sept 2027-Aug 2028 years. Not every program admits in every term; each program page lists the start terms it actually offers.
Admission Requirements: DOMESTIC APPLICANTS (Canadian citizens and permanent residents). Full-time day programs are applied for through ontariocolleges.ca, which allows five active program choices at a time, of which at most three may be at Algonquin; those three Algonquin choices are processed simultaneously and independently, and only one offer can be accepted. Apprentices register instead through the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development and name Algonquin as their preferred training facility, and most part-time and Continuing Education courses need no application at all.
Every applicant must satisfy both College Eligibility and Program Eligibility. College Eligibility means an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or an equivalent; without one, Algonquin accepts a General Educational Development (GED) certificate or an Academic and Career Entrance (ACE) Ontario College certificate, and anyone who is 19 or older by the program start date may apply as a mature student. Both of those routes are assessed individually and may involve an English and/or Math assessment at the Test Centre where the program needs subject-specific grades. Program Eligibility is the named Grade 11 and 12 subjects and minimum grades printed on each program page, and it varies a great deal: Police Foundations asks only for Grade 12 English (ENG4C or equivalent); Practical Nursing asks for Grade 12 English (ENG4C) and Grade 12 Mathematics (MAP4C) plus Grade 11 or 12 Biology and Chemistry, all at 65% or higher; Paramedic asks for the same four subjects at 70% or higher. Honours bachelor's degrees are framed differently again - six Grade 12 U or M courses, with a minimum 65% average for the Bachelor of Interior Design (Honours) and a minimum 70% average for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (Honours) including Grade 12 U English, Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology each at 65%. A mature applicant to a degree must additionally show academic ability equivalent to an Ontario high-school graduate, verified by at least one completed full-time post-secondary term of five concurrent courses. Graduate certificates require a college diploma or a degree, in some cases in a named field. Non-academic requirements are common on top: many health programs require the Algonquin College Health Program Admissions Test (AC-HPAT), written once per academic cycle at the Test Centre for a fee and used both to set minimum eligibility and to rank applicants, while Animation, Graphic Design and the Bachelor of Interior Design (Honours) require a portfolio.
Where a program is oversubscribed Algonquin rank-orders qualified applicants: on the single required subject grade where one subject is required, and on the average of the required subjects where several are. Applying by 1 February puts an application in that equal-consideration pool; after 1 February qualified applicants are accepted while space lasts or waitlisted by date of application, and waiting lists are held until the start of classes. Domestic applicants holding transcripts from outside Canada must have them assessed by the International Credential Assessment Service of Canada (ICAS) or World Education Services (WES), and may also be asked for proof of language proficiency.
ENGLISH TEST SCORES are published per program rather than as one college-wide figure, and the level follows the program, not simply the credential. The lower band - used by most certificates and diplomas, including Police Foundations, Personal Support Worker, Aircraft Maintenance Technician, Electrical Techniques, Welding and Fabrication Techniques, Medical Device Reprocessing and Graphic Design - is Academic IELTS 6.0 overall with no band below 5.5; TOEFL iBT 80 overall with 20 in each of Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing for tests taken before 21 January 2026, or 4 overall with 4 in each section for tests taken after that date; or Duolingo English Test 110 overall with 110 in Literacy and no score below 95. The higher band - used by the degrees, the graduate certificates and most health and community programs, including Practical Nursing, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (Honours), Dental Hygiene, Dental Assisting, Cardiovascular Technology, Medical Radiation Technology, Respiratory Therapy, Veterinary Technician, Social Service Worker, Child and Youth Care and Early Childhood Education - is IELTS 6.5 overall with no band below 6.0; TOEFL iBT 88 with 22 in each section before 21 January 2026, or 4.5 with 4.5 in each section after that date; or Duolingo 120 overall with 120 in Literacy and no score below 105. Massage Therapy sits above both, requiring IELTS 6.5 overall with Reading 6.5, Listening 7.5, Speaking 6.5 and Writing 6.0, or TOEFL iBT 90 with Reading 22, Listening 24, Speaking 22 and Writing 22. Read the program's own page before booking a test, because these minimums are set program by program.
INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS apply directly to Algonquin instead, on the International Application Form in Algonquin's International Application Portal (AC360), and pay a CAD 135 application fee. Academic entry is set by credential level and by country of schooling: a one-, two- or three-year certificate or diploma needs high-school transcripts officially translated into English; a four-year bachelor's degree needs high-school transcripts plus transcripts for any post-secondary study completed; a post-graduate certificate needs a degree or college diploma with transcripts. Algonquin's international admission requirements page sets English minimums by those same three levels: certificate or diploma - TOEFL iBT 80 with no single score below 20, or IELTS 6.0 with no single score below 5.5, or CAEL overall band 60; four-year bachelor's degree and post-graduate certificate alike - TOEFL iBT 88 with no single score below 22, or IELTS 6.5 with no single score below 6.0, or CAEL overall band 70. Algonquin's published English Language Proficiency Requirements table, last updated 15 October 2020, adds two further accepted tests at each level - Pearson PTE 54 and Cambridge English 169 at the lower level, PTE 60 and Cambridge English 176 at the higher - and puts most School of Health and Community Studies diplomas and some School of Media and Design diplomas in the higher level, which the individual program pages bear out. Algonquin's own English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program is the alternative to a test: International EAP Level 5 with B minus for the lower level, Level 6 with a grade of B for the higher (Canadian EAP Level 3 with the matching grade plus Speaking 3). Test results must have been completed within the last two years, and a program page may require more than the credential-level minimum.
An international applicant is exempt from testing on any one of six grounds: one year of full-time post-secondary study in English with a C average in an English-speaking country; secondary education completed in English in a designated country where English is the principal language, together with a Grade 12 English equivalent; an OSSD or another Canadian provincial equivalent including Grade 12 English; AP English Language and Composition, AP Literature and Composition, or IB English A or B; graduation from an authorised Algonquin College ESL pathway program; or completion of Algonquin's EAP program. The College still reserves the right to require a completed proficiency test based on the requirements of the specific program. One further step applies to international applicants only: those who meet the program eligibility for many School of Health and Community Studies programs - among them Practical Nursing, Paramedic, Dental Hygiene, Dental Assisting, Cardiovascular Technology, Medical Radiation Technology, Respiratory Therapy, Massage Therapy, Medical Device Reprocessing and Occupational Therapist Assistant / Physiotherapist Assistant - must first complete a four-month preparatory course, Introduction to Canadian Health Studies (ICHS), and move into their chosen health program afterwards; the ICHS itself requires an academic IELTS score.
Total Students: 46,613
Search and filter Algonquin College's available programmes by degree level.
How to apply to Algonquin College — a five-step structure.
Common questions about Algonquin College — answers from its published profile.
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