Although the territory of Nunavut was created in 1999, Nunavut Arctic College (NAC) was created in 1995 through legislation implemented January 1, 1995, when the former Arctic College was split into Aurora College in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Arctic College in the eastern arctic. Today this early split is seen as an attempt by the dominant western college to retain resources and funding after division and has been seen at the heart of the multi-year struggle of the College to fulfill its mandate, address public perception, despite a number of successful and effective graduates, that instruction and student quality are low and that many students drop out or become perpetual enrollees in an atmosphere where instructors take advantage of weak management and collective bargaining status as "teachers" with school year type holidays and no obligations for research and long term scholarship.
The major campuses of Nunavut Arctic College are Nunatta Campus in Iqaluit on Baffin Island, Kivalliq Campus at Rankin Inlet, and Kitikmeot Campus at Cambridge Bay. The three campuses have very distinct atmospheres and approaches, some being vital and active with committed leadership and others being regrettably perfunctory in performing their obligations. The College has also established Learning Centres in twenty-four of the twenty-six communities on the territory. The efficiency and quality of these Centres varies with the enthusiasm and basic abilities of the single supervising instructor, and the College struggles to maintain these feeder institutions with minimal financial support and varying program success. Prior to 1999 most campus infrastructure had been built in the western territory, and Nunavut Arctic College is still running to catch up with the need for classrooms and residences to serve an exploding youth population in Nunavut.