Future Directions and Challenges for Higher Education in Yukon

Yukon College is a founding member of the University of the Arctic, "a cooperative network of universities, colleges, research institutes and other organizations concerned with education and research in and about the North." To date there is no territorial university in Yukon, but preparations for university transition have been underway since 2012 and more formally since somewhat before 2015 with an anticipated launch date of Fall 2020. This is despite the fact that northern residents and southern academics have been suggesting it since the early 1960s, an attempt was made to establish a university in Yukon and the Northwest Territories in the 1970s, the Science Council of Canada urged its establishment as early as the mid 1970s, and Yukoners have proposed the college become a university in some form or other since 2004.