About

Applications for the Cape Breton Medical Campus class of 2029 (beginning September 2025) will open in June 2024.

Your degree will come from the Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine.

At the Cape Breton Medical Campus, medical education will be delivered in the new medical sciences building on the Cape Breton University campus. 

The current NSCC Marconi campus will be repurposed to house a large collaborative clinic that will serve the primary care needs of the general public, while also providing new space for clinical training of medical students, and eventually, residents. The Cape Breton Regional Hospital will continue to be utilized as a teaching hospital, as will clinics and hospitals throughout Cape Breton and rural Nova Scotia.

There will be a separate admissions stream for the Cape Breton Medical Campus. Students will receive the bulk of their training in Cape Breton and rural Nova Scotia. Admissions will be prioritized for Indigenous and African Nova Scotian students, and students from Cape Breton and rural Nova Scotia. The initial class will see up to 30 students in August 2025 to make up the first cohort.

The current Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine curriculum will be delivered at the Cape Breton Medical Campus. For the first two years, students will be receiving the same lectures as classmates in Halifax or the Saint John, New Brunswick campus. In later years, there is more learning off campus, however, we are still following the distributed medical education model developed by Dalhousie University.

There is no question that housing is a national issue and one that affects us here in Cape Breton. CBU recently announced a new apartment-style residence that will be ready for early 2025, and continues to advocate provincially and nationally for more affordable housing options for students.

With the new campus, additional residency positions will be aligned with the number of undergraduate medical seats.

The longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) is a model for a third-year clerkship in which the core clerkship discipline units are integrated into a year-long program based on patient-centered care and continuity of learning, learning environment, supervision and assessment, and patient experiences. New LIC placements will be established for students at the Cape Breton Medical Campus.

We already have a number of individuals who have indicated their interest in serving as preceptors. In collaboration with Dalhousie, CBU has hired a consultant to canvass physicians across the province to ascertain what is needed to take on students, whether that’s administrative support, physical space or housing. With that information in hand, we will address any identified issues.

Yes. The Cape Breton Medical Campus prioritizes engagement with physicians to ensure there will be the appropriate number of highly-skilled, trained educators.

Medical students enrolled at all Dalhousie Medicine campuses, including Cape Breton Medical Campus, are individually responsible for paying the same tuition fees. The 2024-2025 Medicine tuition fee schedule can be found here. Government funding to Dalhousie Medicine to support the delivery of the medical education program at all campuses does not include tuition fees.

• At CBMC, students will have access to comprehensive support from the Student Affairs team which will help learners with issues related to stress and anxiety, personal or family crises, short- and long-term leaves of absence and scheduling accommodations, all with a goal to enable students to be successful in their medical school journey.
• If students are unable to meet the contractual requirements outlined in the return of service agreement, they will be required to repay the funding support to the Minister of Health and Wellness. All prospective students are encouraged to carefully read the return of service agreement which includes payment details and should reach out to physician.resources@novascotia.ca with any questions regarding the agreement.