Starting August 1, 2026, Vancouver Island University (VIU) is streamlining how we communicate with students. Email sent to current VIU students will now be sent to their MyVIU email address.
The MyVIU email looks like this: preferredname.lastname@my.viu.ca.
What does this mean for VIULearn email?
To support this change and keep the experience consistent across all the ways we communicate with students, the following email settings are changing for everyone in VIULearn effective August 4, 2026.
- You can no longer edit your email forwarding settings in VIULearn.
- Email sent through VIULearn will be forwarded to your MyVIU email (for students) or VIU email (for employees).
- Forwarded email will be marked as read in your VIULearn inbox.
What do I need to do?
If you don’t already use your VIU provided email, you will need to make some changes to make sure you don’t miss anything important.
Students
- Log in to your MyVIU email account today and check it regularly.
- Use your MyVIU address when emailing your instructors or campus services.
- Check your MyVIU inbox for forwarded VIULearn messages.
Instructors
- Remind your students to check their MyVIU email address for communication from VIU including notifications and emails sent from VIULearn
- If a student emails you from a personal account, please remind them to switch to their MyVIU address.
- Keep an eye on your official email for messages forwarded from VIULearn.
Can I still forward my email to a personal address?
Students
If you are a VIU student, you can set up forwarding on your MyVIU email. If you do, please check your junk or spam folder regularly as forwarded email may be accidentally flagged as spam by your email provider.
We strongly recommend you send email to your instructors or support staff at VIU from your MyVIU email. This helps us know who you are when you contact us. It also protects the privacy of your personal email. You do not need to share your personal email with instructors or peers unless you want to.
Instructions on how to forward your MyVIU student email to an external email are on the IT student emails information page.
Instructors
Employees cannot forward their institutional email to a personal email address for privacy and data security reasons.
Help resources
If you’re a VIU student, here are some helpful links to get you started.
- Log in to your MyVIU email
- Check out the IT help resource how do I access my VIU email (mailbox)?
If you have any trouble logging in to you MyVIU email, please contact the IT Service Desk. They can help you get access to your account and set up your two step verification and add a recovery email.
If you have any questions about the email tool in VIULearn, contact the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning (CIEL) at learnsupport@viu.ca.