Active students in this program are eligible to apply for a Perspective Scholarship (Programme de bourses Perspective Québec) valued at $1,500 for every successful term for a maximum total of $9,000.

  • Application Deadline: 
    March 1
  • Program Code: 
    180.A0
  • DEC in: 
    Nursing
  • Certification: 
    Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ)
  • Program Length: 
    3 years

Your meaningful career in nursing starts with a clinical placement during the first semester of the Nursing Program at Dawson College. Throughout the program, you will experience hands-on learning in Dawson’s labs and high-tech simulation rooms and during weekly clinical placements. Students practise their skills on Dawson’s high-fidelity mannequins that breathe and react to interventions.

Upon graduation, nursing students will have received training in many different clinical settings including acute care, long-term care, pediatric units, and obstetrical units. The program culminates with a clinical internship in a hospital setting during the sixth semester. Nursing students are paired with a preceptor for 32 hours per week.

I chose to be a nurse because it is satisfying to contribute to the restoration of someone’s health.
— Wedcher R.

What you will learn?

  • To establish professional relationships with patients, peers, and teachers
  • To deal with social and cultural realities related to healthcare
  • To teach and assist patients in the maintenance and improvement of their health
  • To establish links between pharmacology and a clinical situation
  • To collect and analyze data
  • To plan, implement and evaluate nursing care
  • To intervene with patients requiring medical-surgical, postnatal, pediatric, psychiatric, geriatric and ambulatory care
  • To perform nursing tasks: taking blood pressure, preparing medications, doing injections, managing wounds, conducting assessments for newborns, mothers and children

Where will this program lead you?

Graduates are encouraged to continue their studies at the university level. McGill University offers Quebec CEGEP Nursing graduates the two-year Bachelor of Nursing (Integrated) (BNI) Program.

After completing the Dawson Nursing Program and passing the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ) license exam, graduates can work in a variety of nursing jobs in hospitals and health centres.

What else you should know?

  • Once admitted to the program, students must:
    • complete the O.I.I.Q. nursing student registration application
    • pass a criminal record check
    • provide proof of a complete immunization record
  • You can complete the program in three or four years
  • There are two pathways (both five years full-time) to Complete a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing in Quebec:
  1. Take a DEC in Nursing at CEGEP (3 years) and then do a Bachelor’s in Nursing (2 years) = 5 years to obtain a BNI
  2. Take a DEC in Science (2 years) and then do a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (3 years) = 5 years to obtain a B.Sc.(N)
  • After completing the DEC in Nursing, graduates must write the license exam given by the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ) to obtain their registered nurse’s license
  • Graduates who obtained their post-secondary education outside of Quebec may have to pass a French test in order to obtain their RN license for Quebec

What do you need to apply?

  • A Diploma of Secondary Studies (DES) or academic background judged equivalent to the DES
  • Sec IV Environmental Science & Technology or Environmental Science 558-404 or 558-402
  • Sec V Chemistry 551-504
  • Secondary IV enriched Mathematics or Secondary V Mathematics are considered assets
  • Placement at College English 101 (testing may be required)
  • Letter of intent
  • Completion of the science prerequisites within the last 5 years is considered an asset

Application Deadline

March 1



Last Modified: November 9, 2023