Comox Valley campus: Humble beginnings to beacon of the valley
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In connection with North Island College’s 50th anniversary, the Comox Valley campus is opening tul'al’txw, its first-ever housing for students, in September 2025.
From looking at the many buildings on campus now, it’s easy to forget that North Island College started its Comox Valley programs at a single office in downtown Courtenay.
Change was inevitable though, and in 1992, NIC moved to its current location on Ryan Road, a site that included amenities like the Stan Hagen Theatre early on. When completed, the campus was one of the largest wood frame construction projects in the province.
Operating within the unceded territory of the K’ómoks First Nation, the Comox Valley location is NIC’s largest campus, offering a wide range of program options and, as of Fall 2025, tul'al'txw. Alongside housing, a new centre dedicated to Early Childhood Educators will also soon open, providing 75 new child care spaces.
The campus has grown in other ways. In 1996, for example, Shadbolt Studios, named after renowned Canadian painter Jack Shadbolt, opened to provide 7,200 square feet of space for art students, while in 2003, Tyee Hall was added to bring more class space, a bookstore and a cafeteria to the Comox Valley location.
In 2011, the campus had another major addition when the Trades Training Centre opened. In 2019, NIC even added space at the former St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Comox, which then started providing Care Assistant and Early Childhood Care and Education programs.
As the campus has expanded, so has the programming. As of 2003, students were able to complete a four-year degree in collaboration with Vancouver Island University (or Malaspina University College as it was known then).
In recent years, NIC has responded to the growing need for more health professionals who understand the communities in which they work by developing new programs like the three-year Island Pre-Health Science advanced diploma (launched in 2023) and the two-year Health Science diploma, starting in 2025.
Another area that is growing in the Comox Valley is Continuing Education and Training (CET), which supports lifelong learning and helps meet the region’s education and training needs. This includes the campus’s longstanding arrangement with Comox Valley ElderCollege, which celebrated 25 years in 2024.
In early 2024, the CET program moved its offices to the St. Joseph’s site in Comox, once again reminding us that change is always part of life at NIC.
Learn more about NIC's Comox Valley campus here.
