University Diploma - Outdoor Recreation Management (Co-op)

The University Diploma in Outdoor Recreation Management (Co-op) is a two-year program with a paid four-month co-op term, training managers for the adventure tourism and outdoor recreation industry rather than guides alone.

Coursework combines technical outdoor skills — wilderness travel, navigation, avalanche awareness, swiftwater and mountain safety, wilderness first aid — with the management content the industry actually promotes on: risk management and liability, trip planning and logistics, outdoor program design, environmental stewardship and Leave No Trace practice, sustainable operations, group facilitation and leadership, and the business fundamentals of running a recreation operation. Field courses run in the Sea-to-Sky corridor and coastal ranges.

Risk management is the part that turns this from a hobby credential into a professional one. The outdoor industry is liability-driven, and operators hire people who can document a risk assessment, run an emergency response plan and satisfy an insurer — not just people who are competent in the backcountry.

CapU is a fully public teaching university on Vancouver’s North Shore — a Designated Learning Institution (DLI O19280078102) with university status since 2008. Classes are small, faculty teach rather than delegate to assistants, and tuition sits well below the big Vancouver research universities while the credential carries the same public-institution standing.

Its field maps to CIP 31.0301 (Parks, recreation and leisure studies). Important: this is a non-degree credential, so unlike CapU’s bachelor’s programs it is not exempt from the November 2024 PGWP field-of-study restriction — eligibility depends on this CIP field appearing on IRCC’s current eligible list at the time you apply. Confirm the live list with an Apply Study Visa counsellor before committing. Final decisions rest with IRCC.