College History
Nyangatjatjara Aboriginal Corporation oversaw the establishment of Nyangatjatjara College which opened its doors for the first time on July 21st 1997. Its main campus is a boarding facility at Yulara (near Uluru), with three smaller campuses at Imanpa (180 km east of Uluru), Mutitjulu (at the base of Uluru) and Kaltukatjara (also called Docker River, 230 km west of Uluru). Nyangatjatjara College is the only secondary education institution in Central Australia outside a major urban centre.
In the first five years of its life, the college grew from one building to multiple temporary buildings at four campuses based in the communities it serves. The Yulara campus is an architecturally designed site. It has used bright colours and staggered rooflines to created an integrated design where buildings meld with the land. It is the same design style as the Uluru cultural centre operated by the Anangu people.
The Pitjantjatjara communities strongly support the idea of having their own college that can link with the cultural values of Anangu people. The Yulara complex offers considerable prospects for employment. National Parks provides training programs for junior rangers to learn to manage the land.
Students
Students range from 12 – 19 years of age and speak Pitjantjatjara as a first language. The number of students at each campus varies. The goal of the college is to have every student in each of the three communities enrolled and attending school.