The Yukon Party wants to turn Yukon College into a university.

During a news conference held Wednesday afternoon at Yukon College, Premier Darrell Pasloski wouldn't say how much he would invest in the project, nor when Yukoners could expect to see the first Canadian university North of 60.

He made the announcement alongside party election candidates Doug Graham and Samson Hartland.

"While we don't have a dollar figure, we are committing to the ideal of the fact that we want this facility go from being a college to a university,” said Pasloski.

He thinks a university would provide more advanced education for those who want to stay in the territory and attract new talent to the Yukon, too.

Graham, a retired longtime college registrar, said for the college to receive university accreditation, territorial legislation would have to change "a little bit.”

Pasloski said the party would begin the process immediately, by identifying Crown land that university facilities, like the proposed Centre for Northern Innovation in Mining, could be built on.

The premier explained that his party wants to develop a new students' residence and expand programming delivered through the Technology Innovation Fund and the Cold Climate Innovation Fund.

The college currently has three residencies: one with 48 rooms, one mature building with 12 rooms and 32 two- or three-bedroom apartments in two buildings

According to the College Residence Department, the rooms are always filled during the academic year.

Pasloski would not say how much his government would spend on the new residence nor expanding programming, other than that he would ask the federal government to help.

He did, though, say that there wouldn't be a lot of capital investment in the beginning.

Graham agreed.

"Other than the residence at first, and the expansion in programs, what we're talking about is a legislative change more than anything.”

Graham wouldn't state, either, how much a new residence would cost, other than saying, "we're not talking about 20 million dollars.”

He served as an education minister under a then-Conservative government 30 years ago.

Hartland said he wants a univeristy because he might like to attend the school himself. He thinks the territory can build on our knowledge sector as a way to diversify the economy.

College president Karen Barnes told the Star today that turning the college into a university is something Yukoners have been talking about since the college was first created. Its current local campus opened in the fall of 1988.

As for how long it might take, Barnes doesn't know.

"Four years ago, when I started here, people were saying it could happen in 50 years. Now some people are saying five years.”

Barnes said that recently, there has been more buzz about creating the first northern university.

She thinks this is because the North is getting a lot of attention in areas like climate change research and the growing resource industry.

Barnes said programming would be determined on a need basis. She imagines it would be the northern-specific programs that emerge because that type of schooling just isn't available in southern Canada.

"It will be interesting which ones rise to the top,” she said.

The college president said we need to look at examples of new schools in British Columbia — like Thompson River University in Kamloops and Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo— and how they incorporate trades and technology training with academia.

She emphasized that turning the college into a university would expand on what the school already offers.

"We never want to give up on what programs we're currently doing, especially within the trades,” she said.

Before leukemia claimed his life in July 2010, former NDP leader Todd Hardy introduced a motion in the legislature calling for the college to evolve into a university.