The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (now officially known only as RMIT University), is a university in Melbourne, Australia. Its main campus is located in the city's central business district.

Founded by Francis Ormond in 1887 as the Working Men’s College, and renamed Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1960, RMIT was given formal university status in 1992. By the end of its inaugural year, 900 students were enrolled; in 2002 this number was 57,243.

As well as several Victorian campuses, RMIT has an international campus in Vietnam.

Following the accession of Professor Ruth Dunkin as Vice-Chancellor, RMIT was the subject of several critical articles in the print and electronic media, with crikey.com.au in particular levelling criticism at its financial management. In 2000, RMIT embarked on an expensive replacement of its student information system, using PeopleSoft software. This developed into a $50 million per year black hole, and gave rise to serious questions about the ability of Dunkin and others to manage the university. The Victorian Auditor General conducted full audits in 2003 and 2004, but these did not result in any change in the underlying precariousness of RMIT's financial position.

Dunkin resigned on 27 August 2004, citing negative public scrutiny undermining the ability of university staff to focus on education and research. She was succeeded by Professor Chris Whitaker. In September 2004, RMIT Finance Director Cameron Moroney was forced to resign following a failure to meet financial targets.

During 2004, the internal structure of RMIT was reorganised into a number of 'Portfolios' or super-faculties, and many existing academic departments forcibly merged into larger Schools.

External link

• Official website (http://www.rmit.edu.au/)

See also

• List of universities in Australia