For one Saturday in late October, the University of Prince Edward Island is doing something most universities only do in pieces. On October 24, 2026, from 9 am to 4 pm, the whole Charlottetown campus opens at once: the brand-new Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Centre in the morning, the Atlantic Veterinary College's long-running animal open house through midday, and the university's own Fall Open House for prospective students in the afternoon. It is free, it is open to families, and the only thing organizers ask is that guests register.
The day starts at 9 am with something genuinely rare. The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Centre will hold a Community Open House until 11 am, offering clinical simulation demonstrations, a look inside teaching and learning spaces including the anatomy lab, and the chance to meet members of the Faculty of Medicine team. Anatomy labs are not usually public rooms. Neither are clinical simulation suites, where medical learners rehearse procedures on mannequins and task trainers before they ever touch a patient. Opening them to the public for a morning is the kind of behind-the-scenes access that tends to draw curious neighbours as much as aspiring doctors.
There is a reason this building is worth a look. The 138,000-square-foot, $103-million facility, which includes $30 million in advanced IT infrastructure, is the largest capital project in UPEI's history. Construction began in December 2022, and the first cohort of PEI-based medical learners of Memorial University's regional campus moved in on August 22, 2025. The university marked the official opening on November 28, 2025, with a ceremony at which student representatives from Nursing, Biology, Sustainable Design Engineering, Climate Change and Adaptation, Paramedicine, Kinesiology, Dietetics/Nutrition, Veterinary Medicine, Psychology, and Medicine connected ribbons to form a "Shared Ribbon of Disciplines"—a visual argument for the interprofessional model the building was designed around. The broader community was invited to watch that opening by livestream. This October, they can walk the halls instead.
The medical school itself is new ground for Prince Edward Island. The UPEI Faculty of Medicine opened in 2025 as a regional campus of Memorial University's Doctor of Medicine program, making it the province's first medical education program. Students complete Memorial's nationally accredited MD curriculum while spending most of their training in PEI, and graduate with a Memorial degree; UPEI hosts and delivers the program under Memorial's accreditation rather than granting the MD itself. The arrangement is aimed squarely at a problem Islanders know well—training doctors at home in the hope that more of them stay.
By 10 am, attention shifts to the other end of campus, where the Atlantic Veterinary College holds its annual Open House until 2 pm. This one has deep roots. AVC accepted its first class in 1986 and remains the only veterinary school in Atlantic Canada. Its open house began in 1990 and has run for more than three decades, organized and run by students in the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program. UPEI describes it as one of the largest and most successful open houses in Atlantic Canada, drawing thousands of visitors each year.
The formula is simple and hard to resist: animals, large and small; interactive displays; demonstrations; and community organizations involved in animal care. The centrepiece for younger visitors is the Children's Activity Centre, where kids can bring stuffed toys for a check-up and treatment at the Teddy Bear Clinic, gown and glove like a surgeon, get their faces painted, and pick out a balloon animal. Past editions have added touches like balloon-animal adoptions and a dog parade. For a family looking for a free Saturday outing, it is difficult to beat.
At noon, the Fall Open House for prospective students takes over the central campus and runs until 4 pm. This is the recruitment heart of the day, aimed at high school students and the parents, family, and supporters who come with them. Visitors can tour the campus, meet faculty, staff, and students, explore campus life, and pick up giveaways and bookstore discounts. Sessions cover academic programs, financial aid, residence life, support services, and ways to get involved. The university frames the pitch around what it calls "Big Futures" and the Panther family—UPEI's athletics nickname and the shorthand for its campus identity.
There is a concrete incentive, too. High school students who register at upei.ca/openhouse receive a free application code that waives the application fee. For a student weighing several universities, that is a small but real nudge—and it means the day is not purely a look around but a first step toward applying.
Taken together, the three-part schedule says something about what UPEI is right now. The university traces its origins to 1969, when Prince of Wales College, founded in 1860, and Saint Dunstan's University, founded in 1855, merged to form the University of Prince Edward Island. Its motto is Fides, Scientia, Beneficium—faith, knowledge, service. In fall 2026 it enrolled roughly 5,192 students. The institution that once sent its medical hopefuls out of province now hosts a medical school of its own, and the same campus that trains veterinarians for all of Atlantic Canada throws its doors open to the public once a year.
That is the unusual appeal of October 24: a single day when the anatomy lab, the simulation suites, the animal wards, and the recruitment tents are all accessible, and none of it costs anything. Guests should register in advance through UPEI's open house page. The campus address is 270 University Avenue in Charlottetown, and the day runs 9 am to 4 pm, with the medical community open house from 9 to 11, the AVC open house from 10 to 2, and the prospective student open house from noon to 4.