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Get to know VIU. As a teaching university and a research university, we offer a unique experience to students.

About VIU Why VIU

About VIU

Why VIU?

Explore where VIU is going

The Strategic Plan builds on our commitment to diverse learners and draws on our connection to the community.

Programs Programs

Explore a wide range of program offerings and learning services. Choose from degrees, vocational training, certificates and more.

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Programs

Learning Services

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Explore your options with one of our friendly recruiters. Online and in-person meetings available.

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Admissions & Aid Admissions & Aid

Discover how to apply to VIU and get more information about tuition and financial aid.

Admissions Tuition and Aid

Admissions

Tuition and Aid

How to become a student

Make your VIU application successful by following these steps to becoming a student.

Steps to become a student

Student Life Student Life

Make the best of your time at VIU. Get involved in campus events and enjoy island adventures.

Student Life Student Services

Student Life

Student Services and Support

Get ready for the new student orientation

Attend in-person and online events, explore campus and connect with your professors and soon-to-be classmates!

Support VIU Support VIU

Connect with other VIU alumni and learn about the impact of donor generosity at VIU.

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VIU Alumni

VIU Donors

Your support means so much to VIU students

Our donors fund over 2000 scholarships, awards, and bursaries each year.

Research Research

Discover how VIU's interdisciplinary research is making a real-world impact.

Research

Research and Creative Activity

Explore the research highlights. Includes recent publications, ground-breaking studies and more.

Research Reports

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aerial view of Building 200 at VIU's Nanaimo campus

News

VIU in the News

Latest Stories

Ajay Shrestha sitting in his office, looking at the camera and in front of a keyboard and three computer screens

Giving youth a voice in Canada’s AI policies

July 27, 2026 - 02:36pm

campus_map_column

Exterior wayfinding program makes VIU a more welcoming place to everyone

April 2, 2022 - 02:15pm

Kendra Stiwich 2021 President’s Award for Service Excellence Award for Early Impact/Emerging Leader recipient

Recognizing our colleagues: It’s nomination season at VIU

April 2, 2022 - 02:00pm

Mandy Hobkirk uses her phone to take photos of pink flowers.

Citizen Scientists Asked to Look for Plants and Animals during Annual MABR BioBlitz

April 1, 2022 - 10:00am

rocks

Trauma-Informed Leadership at VIU

March 31, 2022 - 09:45pm

Three students examine a research poster at CREATE.

VIU’s CREATE Conference Showcases Student Research and Creative Activity

March 30, 2022 - 03:00pm

Five people pose around an electric vehicle

VIU Receives Funding for new EV Skills Training Program

March 21, 2022 - 03:30pm

VIU Blog

Find out what's going on at VIU!

Carpentry students working working on a housing construction site.

Carpentry students build skills and community

July 29, 2026 By Neil Every

VIU tiwšɛmawtxʷ students gain hands-on experience while helping build homes that will become part of the Tla’amin Nation community

Sheldon Scow, coordinator of VIU’s Community Cousins program, gifts a scarf to Garifuna elder Emily Palacio, director of the Hand in Hand program in Belmopan, Belize.

Indigenous peer mentors join international cooperation project

May 1, 2023 By Eric Zimmer

A new initiative at the University of Belize is taking its inspiration from VIU’s Community Cousins program.

Ottis Crabbe wearing chef's hat and full cooking attire preparing a dish in a pot on a stove in an industrial kitchen during a competition.

Taking his culinary skills to global competitions

April 25, 2023 By Eric Zimmer

Ottis Crabbe shares his story

The front entrance to the VIU Cowichan building in Duncan

A community-based approach to post-secondary education

April 24, 2023

VIU’s Cowichan campus offers Q’ushin’tul

VIU Nanaimo campus

5 Questions about university transfers

April 23, 2023 By Christine Johnson

...and how to streamline the process

A student receives a folder from a woman, with another woman watching in the background

VIU Student Pulse: April 19, 2023

April 19, 2023

Summer jobs and scholarship info 🎒

Toni sits in a field of garlic

Living the agrarian life

April 13, 2023

English Professor Dr. Toni Smith’s experiences with the back-to-the-land movement

Statements & Announcements

Portrait of Daniel R. Elliott, Indigenous artist

VIU’s Malaspina Theatre Hosts Winds of Change Art Exhibit

September 22, 2021 - 09:45am

Action required: VIU’s vaccine self-declaration program

September 16, 2021 - 01:15pm

Three people sitting at a table together talking

VIU Hosts Virtual Event to Showcase Graduate Programs

September 10, 2021 - 10:45am

Vaccine Survey Results

September 9, 2021 - 04:00pm

BC Vaccine Card

BC's Proof of Vaccination System

September 9, 2021 - 03:00pm

VIU Welcomes New Associate Vice-President, Community Partnerships

September 8, 2021 - 01:45pm

VIU in the News

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Events and Info Sessions

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