About

The Virtual Assistant Certificate is the first program of its kind offered in Canada. Students learn a variety of entrepreneurial skills, technology skills and related knowledge to be able to provide office services virtually from their homes.

Classes for this program are delivered online to students who are off-campus, using a variety of methods, such as the Blackboard chat rooms, web conferencing, and teleconferencing. In addition to classes, students complete a 120-hour virtual practicum before graduating.

Currently, the virtual practicum clients are located in London, England; Canada; and throughout the United States. The first class of Virtual Assistant students graduated from Red Deer College June 2005. The group of five graduates, hailing from Alberta and Saskatchewan, all set up their own businesses that offer a host of administrative professional services to clients locally, nationally and around the world.

The unique aspect of these businesses is that they are set up virtually, meaning that this group of new entrepreneurs is electronically connected to their clients from a home office, using the latest technology. While they aren’t located physically at their clients’ organizations, these administrative professionals are still able to provide efficient administrative support.

The Virtual Assistant program accepted its first group of students in September 2003. This innovative program was created to help meet the continually changing needs of a global workforce.