Future Students

Did you know that Vancouver Island University is one of four post-secondary institutions across Canada partnering on an educational initiative for Indigenous youth called EleV? This program, supported by the Mastercard Foundation and co-created with our Indigenous partners, aims to boost success by providing scholarships and wrap-around supports and removing barriers to accessing education.

Vancouver Island University’s ‘su’luqw’a’ Community Cousins Aboriginal student mentorship program is celebrating its 10^th anniversary in September 2021. In honour of this important milestone, we are sharing the stories of 12 people closely connected with the program – one per month – leading up to the anniversary.

Every summer, students in Vancouver Island University’s ‘su’luqw’a’ Community Cousins Indigenous mentorship program organize free summer camps for Indigenous youth.

Vancouver Island University’s ‘su’luqw’a’ Community Cousins Aboriginal student mentorship program is celebrating its 10^th anniversary in September 2021. In honour of this important milestone, we are sharing the stories of 12 people closely connected with the program – one per month – leading up to the anniversary.

One of the cornerstones of the university experience is learning how to write a research paper – a written document that organizes and analyzes information you have collected to answer a question of yours or your professor’s choosing. A university research paper is a bit different from your typical high school essay, so we asked John Hill, Coordinator of VIU’s Writing Centre, who has helped thousands of students learn how to write research papers, to break it down into steps.

Vancouver Island University’s ‘su’luqw’a’ Community Cousins Aboriginal student mentorship program is celebrating its 10^th anniversary in September 2021. In honour of this important milestone, we are sharing the stories of 12 people closely connected with the program – one per month – leading up to the anniversary.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, homes have begun to serve as multi-purpose areas—especially for students. Our living settings have quickly morphed into other forms of essential spaces like gyms, libraries, and offices. This has given us the opportunity to re-evaluate our living environments. The field of environmental psychology gives us insight into optimizing our homes to meet our needs.

A little bit of stress can be a good thing, increasing our alertness, improving performance and heightening our ability to focus. However, when stress levels increase beyond that optimal amount, our performance and ability to focus can be negatively impacted, and there are other physical and emotional impacts. With the uncertainty and ongoing anxiety of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the regular pressures of being a student, you may be experiencing elevated levels of stress.

Here are a few stress management 101 tips to help you maintain your focus and stay healthy:

Being happy affects both your brain and your body in positive ways. Cultivating personal happiness is something you can do every day. There are many actions we can take to improve our mood, build our resilience and our sense of well-being.

Here are 7 practices toward living a happier life to try: