Yukon University is a flexible, post-secondary institution in Whitehorse, Yukon, with 13 campuses across the territory.
Yukon University describes itself as a flexible, post-secondary institution grounded in research and education relevant to the North. Its main campus is located at 500 University Drive in Whitehorse, Yukon, and the university has 13 campuses that deliver education throughout the Yukon. The Whitehorse campus is named Ayamdigut, a Tlingit name meaning "she got up and went."
Yukon University traces its history to the founding of the Whitehorse Vocational and Technical Training Centre in 1963, located on the banks of the Yukon River in downtown Whitehorse. College status was granted in spring 1983, when the institution became Yukon College. The main Whitehorse campus was officially opened with a potlatch in October 1988, at which the institution was given to the people of the Yukon. In 1989 the College Act was amended to establish an independent Board of Governors. In spring 2020 Yukon College was granted university status and all thirteen campuses were renamed Yukon University.
Since 1995, the institution has offered a Bachelor of Social Work program in partnership with the University of Regina. The Yukon Native Teacher Education Program, initiated in 1989, continues to offer a Bachelor of Education degree in partnership with the University of Regina. Areas of study include Culinary Arts, Northern Mining Innovation, and Trades & Apprenticeships, among others.
The Northern Research Centre was established at the Yukon College Ayamdigut Campus in the 1990s to support research "By the North—For the North—In the North". It was later renamed the Yukon Research Centre. The university has also announced a Research Chair in Indigenous Water Governance.
Listed campus facilities include parking and transportation, campus housing, a gymnasium, a campus store, the Hilltop Bistro, Kinnikinnick Kaff, safety and security services, room and venue bookings, the Nakwaye Ku Daycare, the YukonU Library, a Family Study Room, and the Innovation Commons.