Permaculture Design and Resilient Ecosystems Certificate
Program Overview
The Permaculture Design and Resilient Ecosystems Diploma is a 9-month on-campus program for those interested in creating resilient and regenerative systems through permaculture design. This comprehensive curriculum provides in-depth training in foundational permaculture concepts, including ethics and principles. Participants will learn about permaculture tools, strategies, and frameworks; pattern literacy through mapping and design methods; ecological literacy including growing annual and perennial plants, botany, herbalism, mycology, animal design, soil science, water management, ecological restoration, sustainable energy systems, bioremediation, homesteading, and traditional skills; as well as design literacy including water and earthworks, natural building, organizational planning, business, governance, economics, and community development, all through applied permaculture design. Students will engage in various personal and professional design projects, including a collaborative group land-based design for real clients.
This hands-on program includes year-round indoor and outdoor learning on the Pacific Rim College farm campus, including field trips to local gardens, farms, and forest locations. It is offered on a full-time basis of 20 hours per week, scheduled Monday through Thursday from February to November, with occasional weekend workshops and live-online classes.
Please see here for a Permaculture Ethics and Principles video created by past program director Delvin Solkinson.
Length: 9 months
Offered: yearly beginning in February
Hours: 720 total
Program Enrolment: Maximum 18
My experience in the Permaculture Design and Resilient Ecosystems Diploma has been life altering in all of the best ways. The way I look at the world, at our ecosystems and at our history as individuals and a society has forever been changed. The value of understanding regenerative farming, sustainable practices and how to thrive while practicing permaculture principles are priceless. I am grateful for all of the instructors that shared their passions with us and continue to plant seeds of inspiration and knowledge for a brighter future.
– Nikki Wilkinson, Alumnus
Why Pacific Rim College?
What You’ll Learn:
Key Learning Outcome #1
To strategically design, implement and steward abundant, resilient and regenerative systems through the application of appropriate permaculture principles, techniques, design methods and processes.
Key Learning Outcome #2
Earth Care: To understand and care for the natural ecology by developing proficiency in building soil, performing animal, mushroom, plant and tree care, sustainable water and energy management, bioremediation and natural building.
Key Learning Outcome #3
People Care: To understand and care for the social ecology via knowing the history of Traditional People and practices and to build healthy communities through placemaking, participatory and inclusive practices and herbalism.
Key Learning Outcome #4
Future Care: To become aware of and engage in local restoration work, ethical wildcrafting, perennial gardening, traditional skill building, employment and life planning.
Key Learning Outcome #5
Transition: Be able to effectively integrate, apply and share new understandings and experiences of Permaculture Design and Resilient Ecosystems into your personal life, land, livelihood and community.
To me, the PDRE program embodies holism in every sense of the word. It is a re-remembrance of what it means to be a human on this earth, and reminds us how to co-create with the land and its people in an inventive, harmonious way that celebrates the unique gifts and contributions of all. When I think back to all that I have experienced through this program, I recall how it felt to make a hawthorn tincture, or learn how to sheet mulch, or taste a medlar for the first time. It has taught me a deeper, more grounded way of interacting with the past and the future in this pivotal time on earth – honouring where we come from, learning how to be a good ancestor.
– Dominique Argan, Alumnus
Core Program Instructors
This program was a pivotal event in my life. It allowed me to integrate previous schooling in the environmental field and opened me up to a new way of learning. Every day was an engaging adventure; I was passionate about almost all the subjects covered. Besides the absolute thrill of learning how to grow your own food and medicine, I also got to develop my mapping, design, and presentation skills. Learning in such a close-knit community was also very beneficial for me, it softened and changed many of my oh-so-tightly held perspectives. I feel renewed confidence to re-enter the environmental workforce with a much more nuanced worldview, stronger skills as well as a variety of new hands-on skills, eventually starting my own business/farm in the near future.”
– Alumnus
Curriculum
Below is a list of all courses included in the Permaculture Design and Resilient Ecosystems Certificate program. Please click on course links below to see more course information including descriptions and prerequisites.
Permaculture Design Literacy
Permaculture Ecological Literacy
Permaculture Foundational Concepts
Permaculture Pattern Literacy
Permaculture Workshop
Total Requirements
Learning Site
This program is offered primarily at the college’s partner farm, Tiny Tree Herb Farm. Some classes may take place off-site or online including other farms and our main downtown campus location in Market Square.
Tiny Tree Herb Farm is located near the coastal community of Brentwood Bay overlooking the Malahat on the beautiful and fertile Saanich peninsula, about 25 minutes north of our downtown campus.
Please see here a video of the 2025 PDRE cohort’s Ultimate Backyard Scale Chicken Coop built by our students using natural building techniques.
Admissions
Pacific Rim College is committed to educating the highest quality industry professionals, and we offer priority acceptance to applicants who demonstrate the highest potential for success. Admission into the Permaculture Design and Resilient Ecosystems Certificate program at Pacific Rim College is on a competitive basis, and applicants will be evaluated based on academic achievement, humanitarian activities, community involvement, program-related experience, communication skills, professionalism, emotional maturity, independence, ambition, and passion.
Admissions Criteria and Application Requirements
Admission requires successfully meeting the following minimum criteria:
- Applicants must be 19 years of age or older, or have completed high school or an equivalent, such as the GED or CAEC. Applicants who are 19 or older without a high school diploma or equivalent may be considered for mature student status and will be required to complete an essay provided by the college.
- A minimum grade of 70% in previous coursework. All grades will be taken into consideration with emphasis on related language and science-based courses, such as but not limited to general English, general science, creative and professional writing, biology, and chemistry.
English Language Proficiency Requirements:
Prior to acceptance applicants must meet at least one of the following language proficiency requirements:
- Completion of grades 9-11, including English 11 with a grade of ‘60%’ or higher from a country where English is one of the principal languages, or
- Completion of 2 years of full-time post-secondary education at an accredited institution where English is the language of instruction, or
- Provide verified results for one of the English language proficiency tests listed below. Test results must be dated no more than two years before the start date of the program.
- Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL iBT) – An applicant must earn a score of no less than 16 out of 30 on any of the 4 test sections and a total score of no less than 75 out of 120.
- International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic – An applicant must earn an overall score of 5.5 or higher.
- Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Test – An applicant must earn an overall score of 40 or higher.
- Duolingo English Test – An applicant must earn an overall score of 95 or higher.
Tuition and Fees
Tuition and fees for the Permaculture Design and Resilient Ecosystems Program are broken down as follows:
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– A $250 non-refundable registration fee and a signed student contract is required for acceptance into this program.
– Tuition for the first semester is $5725. The second and third semesters are $2862.50 each. Payment is due on the first day of each semester.
– A $150 program supply fee is due with each semester’s tuition payment.
Early bird rates apply for this program. Apply and be accepted before October 1 for the Winter semester to receive 10% off your program tuition.
Please click here for a description of Academic Fees in PDF format.
Financial Aid
This program is approved for Canada Student Loans. British Columbia residents can apply for student loans online through StudentAid BC. For non-British Columbia residents, please visit hrsdc.gc.ca for information about Canada Student Loans.
For a list of all financial aid programs available to PRC students, please visit our Financial Aid page.
Post-Graduation
Graduates of the Permaculture Design and Resilient Ecosystems Diploma program will have the distinction of having completed an unprecedented program. They will be confident leaders in the field of Permaculture and can seek employment as Permaculture consultants and designers, greenhouse/nursery managers, horticulturists, sustainable farmers, natural building apprentices, and sustainable community developers.