Navajo Technical University, like all tribal colleges and universities, grew out of a prayer in the 1960s that envisioned all tribes moving toward self-determination by expressing their sovereignty and establishing their own institutions of higher education. It was as a result of this movement that NTU began as the Navajo Skill Center in 1979 to meet the immediate needs of an unemployed population on the Navajo Nation.

Students enrolled to learn the rudiments of a trade, graduated, and joined the workforce; however, it soon became clear that the students wanted more. In 1985 the Board of Directors changed the Skill Center’s name to Crownpoint Institute of Technology and in November 2006 the Navajo Nation Council approved changing the name to Navajo Technical College. In 2013, NTC became NTU - becoming the first university established on the Navajo Nation.

Today, NTU is one of the premier institutions of higher education in the nation, providing a unique balance between science and technology and culture and tradition. Much of what guides NTU’s success is our mission and our identity rooted in the Diné Philosophy of Education.