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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.

Find your program Learning Services

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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News

VIU in the News

Latest Stories

Harold Chandra sits at a blue table outside

VIU reaches halfway mark on campaign to remove financial barriers for students

April 30, 2026 - 11:14am

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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!

Madelyn in the cafeteria with her research poster

What does the public really think about restorative justice?

April 28, 2026 By Eric Zimmer

Criminology student Maddy Reetham-Clayton aims to find out for a community partner

Student looks at the view wearing a backpack

VIU Student Pulse News: May 2, 2023

May 2, 2023

Work and study at VIU this summer 🎒

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 🎒

Statements & Announcements

Graphic with text Gender, Health & Social Justice written on it.

Speaker Series Highlights Innovative Research in the History of Gender and Health

November 9, 2021 - 01:45pm

Hireserve Has A New Look And Features

November 8, 2021 - 02:30pm

Linda Jack picture

Giving Tuesday at VIU Raises Funds for Students in Need

November 4, 2021 - 11:00am

Strategic Plan cover

VIU Launches Five-Year Strategic Plan

November 3, 2021 - 10:15am

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Media Highlights: October 19 – November 1, 2021

November 1, 2021 - 12:45pm

Group photo of soldiers with Nanaimo Remembers in text beneath

VIU and Community Partners Remember Local Fallen Soldiers through Video Memorial

November 1, 2021 - 12:45pm

VIU in the News

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