North Island College Partnership Program

The North Island College/Vancouver Island University partnership program in Liberal Studies, in existence since 1996, provides students with the opportunity to obtain an interdisciplinary BA degree while studying in the Comox Valley area. Normally, students enter at third year, having completed at least 54 credits of university-transferable courses (some courses can be taken with fewer credits), and take nine credits of Liberal Studies per semester, with an additional thesis course in fourth year. (Part-time options are also available.) The courses are delivered by a team of North Island and VIU professors.

Degree completion requirements are the same as for the normal VIU BA with a Major in Liberal Studies, except that the normal residence requirement (60 credits of VIU courses) is replaced by one which makes it possible to take the whole program at North Island College: provided a student completes 42 credits of upper-level LBST courses, the remaining 18 credits of the residence requirement can be taken as North Island or Open Learning courses. The 42 required credits include 36 offered as classroom instruction over two years on Tuesday and Thursday nights, plus either a 6-credit thesis course in fourth year or a Liberal Studies Abroad program in Europe during the summer months. See Regulations for details.

Intake is normally in September, but under certain conditions, late entry is allowed. For further information, please contact Mark Blackell, Chair of Liberal Studies: (250) 753-3245, local: 2173.