Athabasca University joins consortium of Canadian institutions providing the opportunity for Canadian Armed Forces members and their families to earn a degree like no other
It’s getting easier for Canadian Armed Forces members, veterans, and their family to access an Athabasca University degree!
AU has reaffirmed its support for the military community by joining a consortium of post-secondary institutions that provides greater opportunity to access a world-class university education like no other.
The Canadian Military Veteran and Family Connected Campus Consortium, launched by Veterans Affairs Canada and partners in 2023, has grown to include dozens of Canadian post-secondary institutions committed to collaborating and supporting innovative degree pathways for serving members, veterans, and their families.
“Athabasca University is positioned like no other to offer the Canadian military community the opportunity to access a degree, thanks to our open, online, and flexible model,” Provost Dr. Catherine Swindlehurst said. “We’re giving more of these students an opportunity like no other to access education in their home communities, wherever they are.”
The guiding principles of the consortium include commitments to being military-member-centric, collaborative, evidence-based, equitable, diverse, inclusive, culturally competent, trauma-informed, and strengths-based. AU formally signed on to those principles in September 2025.
By focusing on these principles, the goal is to grow and promote this initiative, build a community of practice, facilitate knowledge transition, support institutions to better connect with military members and their families, and to engage broadly to coordinate efforts and avoid duplication.
Related: Veterans and AU students find honour through service and education
More opportunity to transfer course credits to AU
One of the ways the institutions collaborate to support these students is by making it easier to transfer credit from one to another through innovative degree pathways, so that students who move during the course of their studies don’t have to retake classes covering material they may have already learned.
To this end, AU has also signed a transfer credit agreement with University of Guelph, responding to the needs of learners by recognizing courses offered through the Serving Scholar Program. These courses offer credits for on-the-job training and learning that military members have done in the course of their duties.
This means students who complete experiential learning courses at that institution can apply those credits to their AU degree programs—and in turn progress through a high-quality program that meets their workplace needs in a borderless and boundless classroom.