First Nations
In the 1970s, Native groups such as the Yukon Native Brotherhood and the Yukon Association of Non-Status Indians worked on conceiving a northern institution as a response to a lack of government initiatives, and approached the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (SIFC), called the First Nations University since 2003, to deliver programs in Yukon. In 1976, SIFC entered into a federation agreement with the University of Regina that provided for an independently administered university-college, the mission of which was to serve the academic, cultural and spiritual needs of First Nations' students.
From the 1980s, however, Yukon College began to offer courses based on the demands and needs of the first nations communities (e.g., literacy programs, adult high-school programs, vocational training, and Native language instructor training with the advent of the new millennium, the college had set up a department for First Nations initiatives and a First Nations teacher education program. The latter, is offered in partnership with the University of Regina. The college also outlines in its research policies that its research activities must support the social and economic priorities of First Nations and the Territorial Government, support First Nations and private sector research through partnerships and collaborative agreements with First Nations groups and local private sector research.
Statistical data prepared by the Institutional Research and Planning Office at Yukon College reveals that Yukon has the highest proportion of adults with non-university post secondary education in the country, at 36%, of which 34% are of aboriginal background. More than one out of three Aboriginal Yukoners aged 25 and up had not completed high school or its equivalaency in 2001, as compared with one out of five in the general Yukon adult population. There was also a large gap in university attainment rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations. Overall, 16% of adult Yukoners held a university degree in 2001, but this only applied to 4% of Aboriginal adults. Financial constraints, family responsibilities, and the legacy of residential schooling affecting 87% of all aboriginal families are amongst the major reasons why Aboriginal Yukoners aged 25 to 64 may not complete their education. In the year 2005-2006, 46% of adult Yukon students identified themselves as First Nations people.
People with disabilities
Students with disabilities are also served by Yukon College. In the 2005-06 academic year, 13% of Yukon College students reported a disability, be it physical, learning, or mental/emotional.
International students
At Yukon College, language courses, certificate, diploma, and university transfer programs are provided to international students and the fees are lower than those in most other Canadian colleges.
Transferability of program credits
Although the Yukon Grant as part of the provincial Student Financial Assistance program assists post-secondary college and university studies anywhere in the country, the top ten institutions outside Yukon for students receiving the grant were mostly in the neighboring provinces of BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Yukon students attending these out-of-territory institutions have to observe the credit transfer and articulation agreements within and among the institutes of these provinces.
In a number of articulations with universities in British Columbia, the first two years of university programs can be taken at Yukon College and credited by the BC universities.
Yukon School of Visual Arts, in which Yukon College is a partner, has secured unique articulation agreements with various universities across the country: " "Students who complete the foundation year at the new School of Visual Arts in Dawson City qualify for second year at the southern institutions." As of 2008, these college and universities include: ECUAD, ACAD, OCAD, and NSCAD.
In addition, in recent times, the college has partnered up with the University of Regina (in the province of Saskatchewan) to offer two four-year bachelor's programs and with the University of Alaska Southwest, USA, to offer one master's program in public education in addition to the college's certificate, diploma and university transfer programs. Yukon College offers a BSc degree in Environmental and Conservation Sciences in a partnership with the University of Alberta. The college has degree-granting authority under the Yukon College Act (2009) but has not yet undertaken development of its own degrees.
As of January 2008, there are 48 trades/occupations in which apprenticeship and certification are available in Yukon. Apprentices obtain a Certificate of Qualification issued by the Department of Education upon completion of all requirements of their apprentice program. Recognition of their completion credentials extends outside Yukon through the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program if a Red Seal examination is available in their trade.