Certificate in Veterinary Medical Assistant

Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)

Canada,Alberta

 5 Shortlist

12 Months

Duration

CAD 14,601/year

Tuition Fee

CAD 150

Application Fee

Sep 2025

Apply Date

Canada, Alberta

Type: College

Location Type: Urban

Founded: 1962

Total Students: 39,100 +

Int. Students: 2,200 +

Campus Detail

Main Campus Address

11762 106 St NW, Edmonton, AB T5G 2R1, Canada

Certificate in Veterinary Medical Assistant

Program Overview

Veterinary medical assistants provide support to clients, animal health technologists and veterinarians. Duties may include administration, animal handling and support with nutritional and pharmaceutical products. They also assist with record keeping and other clinical procedures and tasks.

This 1-year certificate program will provide you the skills and confidence you’ll need to work in a front-line position as a veterinary medical assistant in private veterinary clinics, livestock centres and animal shelters. In addition to classroom instruction, you’ll get in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience in animal clinics across Alberta.

Good attention to detail? Thrive on a fast pace and heavy workload? These are important traits of people interested in this program. If you are a people person and enjoy helping them with their animals, this program is a good fit for you.

What You Will LearnCareer 
Hands-on, industry-relevant training
To work as a veterinary medical assistant, you will need to have a genuine interest in animals and their welfare. It’s important to understand that you will need to be comfortable working with a variety of animals, both large and small.

After a year of classroom instruction, your clinical placement will give you hands-on experience at an animal clinic where you’ll get a taste of what your future career could look like. Travel may be necessary as some placements are outside of Edmonton.

You will also regularly support the animal health technologists at the NAIT Animal Clinic. 

As a student in the program, you can expect to spend on average:

  • 26 hours per week attending classes over the course of a semester 
  • 8 - 15 hours per week studying and completing class assignments