Vancouver Community College

Vancouver, Canada • Founded 1965

Updated Sep 2026

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
Top universities in Canada
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Universities compared with this one

Overview

English Name: Vancouver Community College

Acronyms: VCC

Founded: 1965

Institution Type: College

Vancouver Community College student life

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Vancouver Community College is a public college based in Vancouver, British Columbia, with campuses at Broadway and in the downtown core.

It offers certificates and diplomas in fields such as business, design, health sciences, hospitality, and music and dance, alongside trades and apprenticeship training in areas including electrical work, transportation, culinary arts, hairstyling, and esthetics. A university transfer stream lets students complete lower-level coursework that counts toward a bachelor's degree at a partner university.

Instruction is primarily in English, with interpreting services available for students who need them, and academic upgrading and English-as-a-second-language programming support learners preparing for further study. A separate continuing studies division runs shorter professional-development courses.

Much of the college's work-integrated learning happens through student-operated ventures, including a public restaurant, a salon, a dental clinic, and a design studio, where students train under supervision while serving real clients.

Support services cover advising, counselling, accessibility, Indigenous student services, and tutoring through its learning centre. VCC suits school leavers entering trades or health and design fields, adult learners upgrading their academic standing, newcomers needing English-language preparation, and transfer-bound students aiming for a university degree.

Location & Contact

Vancouver Community College's street address and primary contact methods. Social channels often differentiate by purpose — admissions on one, alumni on another, events on a third.

Map:

Phone: +1-604-871-7000

Website: https://www.vcc.ca

Social Media:

Academic Details

The academic indicators below give context on how Vancouver Community College operates at scale. A lower staff-to-student ratio generally signals more faculty access, though research-heavy institutions skew the read.

Academic Year: Three terms a year: Winter runs January to April, Spring/Summer May to August, and Fall September to December. Some programmes start in more than one month within a term or run continuous monthly intakes; international applicants apply to a term rather than to a particular start month.

Admission Requirements: VCC sets entry requirements programme by programme — each programme page carries an Admission Requirements section with the exact courses, grades and documents — and it runs two separate application routes, one for Canadian citizens and permanent residents and one for international students. DOMESTIC APPLICANTS (Canadian citizens and permanent residents). Apply online through EducationPlannerBC, reached from VCC's Apply Now page; the application fee is CAD 35.70 and is non-refundable (programme fee tables round it to CAD 36). You must be 16 or older, or a secondary-school graduate, with some exceptions, and you must have official transcripts and any other required documents sent to the college. An application counts as complete only with the form, evidence of the academic prerequisites, any extra items the programme asks for such as a language result or an audition video, and the fee or deposit paid; if you have not met the requirements for the term you applied to, the application can be cancelled. Most programmes offer seats to eligible applicants in the order applications are completed, so popular ones fill early; competitive-entry programmes rank applicants instead. VCC gives qualified Indigenous applicants priority registration and reserved seats across all its programmes and courses. The academic bar itself varies widely: Grade 10 completion for the Health Care Assistant Certificate, Grade 12 graduation for most certificates and diplomas, and first-year university credit for the degree-level and competitive health programmes (18 credits for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, 30 credits at a 3.0 GPA for Dental Hygiene). Applicants missing a prerequisite can use VCC's tuition-free academic upgrading or its ESL courses. ENGLISH FOR DOMESTIC APPLICANTS. Every programme names an English level — English 10, English 11, Communications 12, or English 12 at C-, C, C+ or B — and VCC publishes a separate equivalency table for each level. At the widely used English 12 C+ level it accepts IELTS Academic 6.5 overall with no band below 6.0, TOEFL iBT 80, CAEL CE or CAEL Online 60, Cambridge B2 First / C1 Advanced / Linguaskill 176, PTE Academic 56, the Duolingo English Test at 115 (excluded for certain health programmes), Langara LET 3, the VCC EAL Accuplacer with Listening 86, Speaking 8, Reading 102 and WritePlacer EAL 5, the VCC NG Accuplacer with Reading 258 and WritePlacer 5, English Studies 12 at 67 per cent, VCC's own ENGL 1100 at 60 per cent, a pass in EAP Level IV, IB English Language or Literature at grade 3, or a completed bachelor's degree or higher. At the higher English 12 B level used by several health programmes the figures rise to IELTS Academic 6.5 overall with Listening 6.0, Speaking 6.5, Reading 6.0 and Writing 6.5, TOEFL iBT 90, CAEL 70, Cambridge 178, PTE Academic 61, Duolingo 120, Langara LET 4, VCC EAL Accuplacer with Listening 93, Speaking 8, Reading 109 and WritePlacer EAL 6, VCC NG Accuplacer with Reading 263 and WritePlacer 6, English Studies 12 at 73 per cent, or ENGL 1100 at 64 per cent. Health Sciences programmes — Health Care Assistant, Pharmacy Technician and Practical Nursing — sit outside that general table and carry their own English standard on their programme pages. INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS. VCC's main programme pages state that the programme is open to Canadian citizens and permanent residents and point international students to VCC International, which lists separately the programmes and intakes open to them, so check there before assuming a programme admits international applicants. International applicants also apply on EducationPlannerBC but choose the International Applicant option; you may hold only one application at a time and must withdraw it before applying to a different programme, and the CAD 145 application fee is non-refundable and does not transfer between programmes. You must be at least 17 by the programme start date. Where the programme requires Grade 12 graduation, send the diploma and transcripts; a GED may be accepted as proof of graduation but will not necessarily satisfy individual course-grade requirements. Anyone who has studied at a Canadian post-secondary institution must submit those transcripts as well. Places are generally first-qualified, first-offered, with a waitlist confirmation instead of an offer when seats are full or reserved; some programmes use competitive selection, and VCC's Flexible Admissions policy can open a route for applicants who miss the standard requirements. ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS is expressed against the same English levels: English 10 needs IELTS Academic 5.5 with no band under 5.0, Duolingo 95 or TOEFL iBT 50; English 11 needs IELTS 6.0 with no band under 5.5, Duolingo 105 or TOEFL iBT 70; Communications 12 and English 12 at C-, C or C+ need IELTS 6.5 with no band under 6.0, Duolingo 115 or TOEFL iBT 80; English 12 B needs IELTS 6.5 with Listening 6.0, Speaking 6.5, Reading 6.0 and Writing 6.5, Duolingo 120 or TOEFL iBT 90. CAEL CE and CAEL Online, Cambridge B2 First or C1 Advanced, PTE Academic and PTE Academic Online are accepted too, as is VCC's own EAL Accuplacer taken with the EAL Speaking Assessment. Results stay valid for two years and must still be valid when the complete application reaches VCC. Secondary or post-secondary study at an accredited institution in a country where English is both the language of instruction and an official language also satisfies the requirement — VCC's list runs to roughly fifty countries and territories including the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Jamaica — and a four-year English-taught degree from an accredited institution in the Philippines is accepted for most programmes, except where an external regulator sets the standard, as with the Health Care Assistant Diploma. DEADLINES DIFFER BY APPLICANT TYPE AND INTAKE. Domestic application windows are published programme by programme and term by term on VCC's When to Apply page, and a programme can close before its listed end date once seats are taken; some programmes, among them EAL Pathways and Adult Basic Education, accept late applications. International applications open on 1 February of the previous year for the Winter term, 1 June for Spring/Summer and 1 October for Fall, and there is no fixed closing date — a programme keeps accepting applications until roughly three to four months before classes begin, or until it fills, so check the Application Availability page before paying the fee.

Total Students: 15,000

Programs Offered

Browse Vancouver Community College's programmes by level, or filter by name to find a specific course. The grouping helps when you have a target qualification tier but want to compare specific programme content.

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

Bachelor's Degree 5 programmes

Applied Music: Bachelor's Degree (BMus)

Music · 2 years · On-campus · English

Local tuition: CAD 7,000/total Start: January and September intakes. VCC's academic year runs in three terms: Winter (January to April), Spring/Summer (May to August) and Fall (September to December).

This degree builds on VCC's Music Diploma: entry needs that diploma or an equivalent completed with a minimum 'B' average and a minimum 'A-' in the specialised performance or academic area. You submit a written proposal...

Vancouver Community College

Overview

Location & Contact

Academic Details

Programs Offered

Bachelor's Degree 5 programmes

Associate's Degree 5 programmes

Certificate 82 programmes

Diploma 36 programmes

Foundation 19 programmes

Micro-credential 14 programmes

Postgraduate Diploma 8 programmes

Trades - Apprenticeship 8 programmes

How to apply to Vancouver Community College

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