International college of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Vancouver, Inc. was originally established in Victoria, B.C., in September 1986 to promote the practice of traditional Chinese medicine in British Columbia and Canada. Prior to the establishment of the College which was named Chinese College of Acupuncture and Herbology at that time, a non-profit society named, Victoria Chinese Culture Centre was formed to promote the presence of Chinese culture in British Columbia. As part of this project, the College was originally intended to be affiliated with the Society. However, when the College was established, there was only one student and financially the College could not survive without outside assistance. Unfortunately, the Society had no financial capability of supporting the College, and there were no other financial resources to rely on. Under the circumstances, the College was privatized with three owners to support it, not as much financially as by contributing their time and efforts to teaching and administration. The College was located in a room rented from an empty rooming house, two more students were enrolled within three months of establishment which considerably improved the financial position of the College. Two years later then the College had ten students, it was moved to an office building with 700 square feet. The College was changed to International College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The student population had continued to increase through the years and many experts and friends suggested that Vancouver should be the logical place of the College, so the Vancouver campus located on East Hastings was established in 1989 with only one student enrolled in the College. While the Victoria campus was operated as usual, the Vancouver campus continued to grow. The Vancouver campus had about 12 students when it was moved to 1847 West Broadway in Vancouver in 1991. This new location had 1,100 square feet of space with two small classrooms and one treatment room which was sufficient at the time, but the College continued to expand almost every year, and it was decided that the Victoria campus and the Vancouver campus should be separated and operated independently in order to be efficient, and so the two campuses became fully independent in 1995, and the Vancouver campus was incorporated under the new present name, "International College of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Vancouver, Inc." When the College was moved to the present new location of 1847 West Broadway in September 1998, it occupied about 4,000 square feet. At present, the College occupies close to 7,000 square feet, with 15 faculty members, four staff members, and 120 full-time students. International College of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Vancouver, Inc. has provided students with academic excellence in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) since its establishment in 1986. The College has emerged as the largest TCM college in Canada and one of the best in the Western world. International College of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Vancouver will continue to offer the best instruction and training in the TCM program to those with a sincere interest in the study of the wisdom and benefits of the Chinese medial tradition.
