About Our Name

After 95 years as Victoria's leading technological educator, and having offered degree courses for over 30 years, RMIT was granted formal university status under the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Act 1992.

The name RMIT University is a registered trading name. This is the way we refer to RMIT in publications, news releases, web sites and other documents.

Since it was founded, RMIT University has been known as:

• Working Men’s College (1887)
• Melbourne Technical College (1934)
• Royal Melbourne Technical College (1954)
• Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1960)
• RMIT University (1992)

We have merged with several other educational institutions:

• Emily McPherson College in the 1970s
• Phillip Institute of Technology in 1992
• Melbourne College of Printing and Graphic Art in 1997
• Melbourne Institute of Textiles in 1999
• These institutions are now part of RMIT University.

For more about our history, please read a Timeline of RMIT history or see RMIT’s family tree (PDF 269kb).