, (previously '''The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology''') is a
University based in
Melbourne ,
Australia . Its main campus is on the northern edge of the city's
Central Business District , has other campuses in
Brunswick and
Bundoora , and operates other sites in the CBD and at
Point Cook . In regional Victoria, RMIT operates in
Hamilton and
Lakes Entrance .
RMIT's Vietnam division, "RMIT International University Vietnam" has campuses in the
Ho Chi Minh City suburb of
Saigon South and in central
Hanoi .
In 2006, the , it is also Victoria's largest
Vocational Education institution.
Founded by
Francis Ormond , prominent grazier,
Freemason and philanthropist, in
1887 as the Working Men's College (encapsulated
in its motto: "perita manus mens exculta" translating to "a skilled hand, a cultivated mind"), and renamed the Royal Melbourne
Institute Of Technology in
1960 , RMIT University gained formal university status in
1992 .
The College proved immediately successful, with over 900 students enrolled by the end of 1887. Students undertook a variety of courses including mechanics, physics, bookkeeping, elocution and arithmetic, as well as certain trades. Its campus was adjacent to the
Old Melbourne Gaol on
LaTrobe Street , and over the years has taken over the whole block as the Gaol was decommissioned and the university's courses increased in size.
In 1934, the College became known as the "Melbourne Technical College".
The College played a major part in training over 22,000 servicemen for World War II, especially in the areas of Radio Communications, when the current Chemistry Building (Kernot) was used entirely for this purpose.
In 1954 the College was awarded the right of the prefix "Royal", and associated
Monarchy Of England regalia. It then became known as the "Royal Melbourne Technical College".
{Link without Title} Six years later in 1960, there was another name change, this time to "Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology". The name "RMIT" was born.
In June 1979
Emily McPherson College amalgamated with RMIT. Its old building is near the
888 Monument . It was a female focused college, and at the time of its merger its courses predominantly covered fashion, textiles and cooking.
In 1992, RMIT merged with the northern suburbs
Phillip Institute Of Technology and became "RMIT University". Phillip brought to the university campuses in Coburg and Bundoora (now RMIT Bundoora West).
1993 saw the opening of "RMIT Business" in the CBD's Tivoli Building, bringing together operations that had been in a variety of city buildings. Also in that year, the recently dissolved
Melbourne College Of Design 's "Department of Visual Merchandising", and "Department of Interior Decoration and Design" joined RMIT.
In 1995 North Melbourne's
Melbourne College Of Printing And Graphic Arts merged with RMIT, its courses soon being transferred to the main campus. Also in that year, the Bundoora East campus opened, along with an Aerospace site at Fisherman's Bend.
In 1996, the University opened "RMIT Penang" in a joint venture with a Malaysian company. It offered Advanced Diplomas that were the equivalent of the first two years of an RMIT degree course.
{Link without Title} The third year had to be studied in Melbourne.
RMIT vacated its Coburg campus, and the site was taken over by
Coburg High School in 1996.
{Link without Title}
The
Melbourne Institute Of Textiles joined RMIT in 1999, together with its
Brunswick campus.
In 2005, RMIT opened a campus in
Ho Chi Minh City ,
Vietnam .
On
April 4 ,
2005 RMIT University appointed a new Vice-Chancellor, Professor
Margaret Gardner .
Research produced by the Melbourne Institute in 2006 ranked Australian universities across seven main discipline areas: Arts & Humanities, Business & Economics, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, and Science.
For each discipline, RMIT University was ranked
Melbourne Institute rankings :
- R1 refers to Australian and overseas Academics' rankings in tables 3.1 -3.7 of the report. R2 refers to the Articles and Research rankings in tables 5.1 - 5.7 of the report. No. refers to the number of institutions in the table against which RMIT is compared.
- --- RMIT does not have a law school or a medical school.
The following publications ranked universities worldwide. RMIT ranked:
1 u/r = unranked.
- AsiaWeek is now discontinued.
In 2003, 58,078 students studied at RMIT University campuses in Melbourne and regional Victoria, in
Vietnam , online, by distance education and at more than 190 partner institutions throughout the world. Prospective students currently have a choice of more than 200
TAFE and higher education programs.
RMIT belongs to the
Australian Technology Network (ATN), an alliance of five prominent Australian universities of technology, each located in a different mainland state of Australia. ATN universities claim a history of collaboration and a commitment to partnerships with industry and the community.
