The Alaska Highway Consortium on Teacher Education (AHCOTE) is a joint teacher education program offered by Simon Fraser University (SFU), Northern Lights College, School Districts 59, 60, 81, and local teacher associations. The AHCOTE program has existed at NLC for more than two decades, and hundreds of program graduates now work in school districts across the region and beyond.

Students who enter AHCOTE with a previously completed degree finish the program in 16 months and are then eligible to apply to the Teacher Regulation Branch, to start teaching with a Professional Teaching Certificate provided all course prerequisites have been met. Students who enter AHCOTE with 60 credits in designated areas or with NLC’s Associate of Arts Degree (AHCOTE) also finish the program in 16 months and are then eligible to apply to the Teacher Regulation Branch, to start teaching with a Conditional Teaching Certificate provided they have the required minimum credits and all course prerequisites have been met. These students generally need an additional 30 elective credits to earn SFU’s Bachelor of General Studies (Education) and a Professional Teaching Certificate.

Depending on how completion of NLC’s Associate of Arts Degree (AHCOTE) aligns with alternating-year AHCOTE intakes, students may have the option of taking 30 elective credits before enrolling in AHCOTE.