Willowbank offers short courses to provide mid-career professionals and other interested participants with an introduction to specific conservation skills. These are intense three-day and five-day courses that draw on both the rich faculty resources of Willowbank, and the specialized classroom and workshop facilities of its unique National Historic Site setting.

These courses provide a microcosm of the special world of Willowbank, with its unique blend of theory and practice, its intimate relationship with practitioners from all disciplines and skills, and its location within the culturally and historically rich Niagara peninsula. 

The course topics vary from year to year, but reflect the five areas that make up the core Diploma Program curriculum – research, documentation, planning and design, project management, and craft skills. Each course involves top people in the field, and allows an exchange of expertise and experience between students and mentors. 

A variety of accommodation options are available in the Niagara-on-the-Lake area, and the short courses can easily be combined with additional opportunities before and after. This region offers world-class theatre at the Shaw Festival, opportunities to explore Canada’s finest wine region, and some of the best bicycle and hiking trails in the country.