The aim of the Northern Teacher Education Program (NORTEP) is to provide northern Saskatchewan with teachers from within the community. Before NORTEP, 97% of all school staff in the north was English-speaking teachers from the south, while 75% of the students were Indian and Metis, many with Cree or Dene as their first language. Since then, the program has graduated 260 northerners as teachers, most of them of Aboriginal ancestry. Northern Professional Access College (NORPAC) was established as a companion to NORTEP. It provides students in northern Saskatchewan with the opportunity to take first and second year university arts and science classes in the north.

The school focuses on teacher education programs.

NORTEP/NORPAC is an off-campus institution accredited by the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Regina, and the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College. The courses offered at NORTEP/NORPAC are off-campus versions of the same courses that are offered at the accrediting institutions. The courses offered must follow the same syllabus, meet the same criteria and standards as the on-campus versions.