The Navajo Technical University (NTU) is a tribal university that is chartered by the Navajo Nation under the Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-471) [As amended through P.L. 110-315, Enacted August 14, 2008] but that does not receive funding under that law.
NTU has one major campus in Crownpoint, New Mexico and four instructional sites, two in New Mexico and two sites in Arizona. The Navajo tribal membership is over 300,000 citizens, of which approximately 181,000 live inside the Nation’s borders. The Navajo Nation is located in three states: New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.
NTU Career and Technical Education (CTE) Project is designed to continue NTU’s tradition of career and technical postsecondary education, providing funding for education, as well as for support services. NTU CTE certificates and degrees integrate rigorous and challenging academic/career instruction, while continuing to emphasize national specialty accreditation and certification standards. The project also proposes to expand the early college program using advanced placement strategies with Navajo-serving high schools to encourage participation in postsecondary career and technical education.
The Pathways project is another element that is designed to encourage students to aim high as they consider career goals and work academically toward high skill, high wage employment opportunities. Several elements in the project are focused on providing services to Navajo students that will lead to skills, attributes, knowledge, and values necessary to gain employment and building capacity for independent living.
Activities such as the Maker's Fair, Research Days, and Skills USA are offered to engage students more deeply in the skills they need for employment, and the tutoring/mentoring/counseling aspects of the project as they work toward earning certificates and/or degrees in a variety of Career and Technical Education programs. NTU offers its students training in a myriad of CTE programs such as:
- Welding
- Construction Technology;
- Industrial Maintenance;
- Culinary Arts;
- Pre-Engineering; and
- Computer Science
NTU currently has a student enrollment of 1,571, which includes students enrolled in its main Crownpoint campus and the four training sites of Bond Wilson, Chinle, Teec Nos Pos, and Zuni.
