Okanagan College

Kelowna, Canada • Founded 1963

Updated Sep 2026 · Source: okanagan.bc.ca

Table of Contents

About the university
Location & Contact info
Admissions, students & campus
Programs you can study
How to apply, step by step
Common questions answered
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Overview

English Name: Okanagan College

Acronyms: OC, OUC

Founded: 1963

Institution Type: Higher education institution

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Okanagan College is a public college in the interior of British Columbia, operating campuses in Kelowna, Penticton, Salmon Arm, and Vernon, along with the Kelowna Innovation Centre.

Its program range covers healthcare, business and entrepreneurship, arts and sciences, trades and apprenticeship, technology, hospitality, aviation, food, wine and tourism, social development, and accounting and finance, together with upgrading, Adult Basic Education, and English as a Second Language pathways for learners preparing for further study. Credentials awarded include certificates, diplomas, associate degrees, and bachelor's degrees, plus apprenticeship training in the trades.

Continuing education is delivered through its InspirED division, which offers non-credit courses, certificates, micro-credentials, distance education, and trades-related continuing studies alongside corporate training. The college documents transfer options and Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition, allowing credit earned elsewhere, or through experience, to count toward an Okanagan College credential, and it runs a Careers Hub supporting co-op and work-experience placements.

Okanagan College serves a broad mix of recent high school graduates, adult and returning learners, international students, and Indigenous students, with dedicated support services for the latter two groups, making it suited to both direct-entry career training and staged pathways toward degree-level study.

Location & Contact

Geographic and contact information for Okanagan College is listed below.

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Website: https://www.okanagan.bc.ca

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Academic Details

Okanagan College's academic profile in numbers is listed below.

Academic Year: 2026-27. The Fall semester begins in September and the Winter semester in January; Summer runs as two short sessions plus a full session (in 2026: Session I 11 May to 22 June, Session II 6 July to 17 August, full session 11 May to 10 August). Distance Education courses begin in September, January and May. Fee payment deadlines for 2026-27 are 18 August 2026 (4:00 p.m.) for Fall and 15 December 2026 (4:00 p.m.) for Winter. Trades, health and continuing-studies programs also run intakes outside this calendar.

Admission Requirements: Okanagan College sets admission requirements program by program, so treat the following as the college-wide floor and always read the individual program page for its own course prerequisites and grades. DOMESTIC APPLICANTS (Canadian citizens and permanent residents) Academic basis: B.C. secondary-school graduation or the equivalent (Adult Basic Education or GED), or entry as a mature applicant - typically 19 years of age and out of secondary school for one year by the first day of classes. Most programs additionally name Grade 11 or Grade 12 courses with minimum grades. English: normally met by a course grade rather than a test. Most programs require English 12 at 60 per cent (English Studies 12, Literary Studies 12, English Literature 12, English 12 First Peoples or the provincial-level ABE English course are accepted at the same mark); a smaller group, such as the Applied Bachelor of Arts in Community Research and Evaluation, requires 70 per cent. Communications 12 is not accepted at either level. Out-of-province equivalents are published province by province - for example Ontario ENG4U or ENG4M, Alberta English Language Arts 30-1. At the 60 per cent level, IB English A1 or A2 grade 4, AP English grade 3, or a C in O-level, AS-level, A-level, GCSE or IGCSE English also qualifies; at the 70 per cent level the bar is IB grade 5 and AP grade 4. How to apply: online through EducationPlannerBC (apply.educationplannerbc.ca/okanagan). The fee is $30 CAD, non-refundable, and covers one program per application. Applications open at 8:30 a.m. on the first business day of October for the following academic year. INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS Academic basis: the same program requirements, assessed against the country-by-country equivalency guides the College publishes for Africa, Australia, Europe, Ghana and Nigeria, Jamaica, Kenya, Latin America, the Philippines, the USA and Zimbabwe. You must be 18 or turn 18 during your first semester; a 17-year-old may be admitted only with completed B.C. Grade 12 (or equivalent) and a guardian living with them, or for a summer session. English for academic programs, where the program asks for English 12 at 60 per cent: IELTS Academic overall 6.0 with no band under 6.0; TOEFL 79 internet-based (213 computer-based, 550 paper-based); CAEL 60; PTE Academic 56 with no communicative-skills score under 55; or Duolingo English Test 105. Where the program asks for English 12 at 70 per cent the minimums rise to IELTS Academic 6.5 with no band under 6.0, CAEL 70, PTE Academic 58 (again no communicative skill under 55) and Duolingo 110; TOEFL stays at 79 internet-based. A middle group of programs asks for English 12 at 67 per cent, where IELTS stays at 6.0, TOEFL at 79 and Duolingo at 105 while CAEL rises to 67 and PTE to 58. Read the tier off the program's own English line. The Common First Year Engineering Certificate is an exception within that middle tier: IELTS, TOEFL and the Duolingo English Test cannot be used to meet its English requirement. Test results must be no more than two years old at the point of application. A recognised bachelor's degree taught in English at an accredited institution can be used instead of a test, and a degree taught in English in a country where English is not the principal language may be reviewed for the same purpose. Health programs sit outside these tables and set higher, program-specific standards - the Practical Nursing Diploma requires IELTS Academic 7.0 overall with 7.0 in listening and speaking and 6.5 in reading and writing (or CELBAN), and Pharmacy Technician requires the NAPRA scores of 7.0 in reading, listening and speaking with 6.5 in writing, all in one sitting. TOEFL, CAEL and PTE are not accepted for the Practical Nursing Diploma or for years 1 and 2 of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and Duolingo is not accepted for some health programs. How to apply: also through EducationPlannerBC, with a non-refundable $100 CAD fee per program paid by credit card. Upload all secondary-school transcripts, English test results, all post-secondary records and a passport copy, each as a single clearly labelled PDF, translated into English where necessary. Omitting an institution you attended can void the application or the offer. All applicants must hold Canadian citizenship, permanent residence, a valid study permit, or a visitor's permit where the studies last six months or less. Programs in health and social development, and some continuing-studies programs, require a criminal record check clearance from the B.C. Criminal Records Review Program as a condition of admission.

Total Students: 15,900

Programs Offered

Every programme Okanagan College currently runs, grouped by degree level and searchable.

144 programmes on record. Each level below shows a sample. Compare these on the programs page All programs in Canada

Bachelor's Degree 3 programmes

Business Administration: Bachelor's Degree (BBA)

Business & Management · 4 years · On-campus · English

International tuition: CAD 24,878/year Local tuition: CAD 6,176/year Start: Intakes published by Okanagan College for this program: September 2026 (Kelowna, Penticton, Salmon Arm, Vernon); January 2027 (Kelowna, Penticton, Salmon Arm, Vernon). Campus availability differs by intake and the program page shows which are still open. Min. GPA: 60.00 / %

Okanagan College's Bachelor of Business Administration admits high-school graduates under the college's standard route: B.C. secondary-school graduation or the equivalent, English 12 or an approved alternative, and mathe...

Okanagan College

Overview

Location & Contact

Academic Details

Programs Offered

Bachelor's Degree 3 programmes

Associate's Degree 2 programmes

Certificate 49 programmes

Diploma 29 programmes

Foundation 17 programmes

Micro-credential 17 programmes

Postgraduate Certificate 3 programmes

Postgraduate Diploma 4 programmes

Trades - Apprenticeship 20 programmes

How to apply to Okanagan College

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