PEI·NewIsland students who want to pursue careers in health care will soon have more guaranteed spots at Dalhousie University, thanks to a renewed agreement between P.E.I. and Nova Scotia.Island students to receive 50 priority spots over two academic years in high-demand fieldsThinh Nguyen · CBC News · Posted: Dec 08, 2025 4:00 PM EST | Last Updated: 30 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.The governments of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia have renewed an agreement that secures priority access to seats in additional high-demand programs at Dalhousie University for Island students. (Eric Woolliscroft/CBC)Island students who want to pursue careers in health care will soon have more guaranteed spots at Dalhousie University, thanks to a renewed agreement between P.E.I. and Nova Scotia.The two provinces have agreed on a partnership that gives P.E.I. students priority admission to 50 first-year seats in 11 high-demand programs, most of them specialized and not offered on the Island.The agreement covers the 2026-27 and 2027-28 academic years.Jenn Redmond, P.E.I.’s minister of workforce, advanced learning and population, said 10 new programs have been added in addition to medicine.“We certainly know the pressures that health is feeling here on Prince Edward Island, and anything that we can do to start to expand and support students to gain access to programs that can come back and help fill those important sectors is really a priority of ours,” Redmond told CBC News. Where the new seats areAccording to the P.E.I. government, the largest seat allocations are in:Pharmacy: Six seats for P.E.I. students in both 2026-27 and 2027-28.Medicine: Six seats in 2026-27, decreasing to four seats in 2027-28.Occupational therapy and physiotherapy: Three seats in each program in each of the two academic years.Dentistry: Two seats in 2026-27 and 2 in 2027-28. The province noted dentistry was part of a previous agreement that ended in 2024-25 and there was no preferred admissions seat this academic year, but it is now included again in the new agreement.The other programs receive one seat in each of the two academic years:Respiratory therapy.Nuclear medicine.Ultrasound.Speech language pathology.Audiology.Physician assistant.“Our cooperation with the Province of Prince Edward Island, supported by hospitals and clinics across Atlantic Canada, has opened valuable training pathways for our students,” Kim Brooks, president and vice-chancellor of Dalhousie University, was quoted as saying in a news release.“This renewed agreement will help more Islanders pursue meaningful careers in health fields that will benefit communities across our region.”Medicine seats decreasing as P.E.I. trains doctors locallyAnother change under the new agreement is the drop in medical school seats from six in 2026-27 to four in 2027-28.Health Minister Mark McLane said that decrease reflects the fact that P.E.I. now has its own medical school, with 20 Island students enrolled this year and another 20 expected each year going forward.”We’re transitioning, obviously, now that we’ve stood up our own medical school. So there is a transition period where we’ll taper off those seats and that they’ll become our own here on Prince Edward Island,” McLane told CBC News.McLane added that by training doctors directly on P.E.I., the province expects to retain more of them long term, even if residency placements may take some students elsewhere.“But again, back to having 20 Islanders at the med school, I think, will yield stronger results in the future,” he said.The reduction in the number of guaranteed medical school spots at Dalhousie reflects a shift in the province’s priority toward training doctors at P.E.I.’s own new medical school, Health Minister Mark McLane says. (CBC)Redmond agreed, noting that with UPEI now offering a faculty of medicine, the reduced Dalhousie seats “would be best fitting” for P.E.I. after negotiations with Nova Scotia.“We’ll continue to monitor the needs and how that will impact those seat numbers for the future going forward,” she said.Redmond said students enrolling in these programs can also access provincial support such as the Marion L. Reid Grant, which helps fund students in eligible health programs across Canada.The grant includes a return-of-service agreement that requires recipients to come back and work in P.E.I.’s health system for two years. Redmond said the province will stay in contact with students throughout their studies to ensure they know about career opportunities at home, with the goal of bringing them back to work and settle on the Island.ABOUT THE AUTHORThinh Nguyen is a digital reporter with CBC P.E.I. He can be reached at thinh.duc.nguyen@cbc.caFollow Thinh Nguyen on XWith files from Taylor O’Brien, Delaney Kelly and Connor Lamont
New agreement guarantees P.E.I. students access to 11 health programs at Dalhousie
