Batchelor Institute began in the mid 1960s on the outskirts of Darwin. From 1974 the institute offered programs at Batchelor, about 100 km south of Darwin, and in 1982 the institution was named Batchelor College, moving to its present site in the town. Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education offers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people the chance to study a wide range of courses designed to help them gain the skills and qualifications needed to find work and to help with the development of their communities, particularly those following traditional ways of life. Some of the subject areas in which courses are offered include Education, Arts and Social Sciences, Health, Business and Science.