For over eighty years, New England Institute of Technology has met the challenge of preparing its graduates to enter an increasingly competitive workplace. Founded in 1940 as the New England Technical Institute, the present university began as a certificate-granting trade school. In 1971, a new administration, under the leadership of President Richard I. Gouse, envisioned a degree-granting institution that would not only be better qualified to meet industry’s need for technically-trained workers, but would also become one of the top technical universities in the nation.

When the Board of Regents of the State of Rhode Island granted the institution the authority to offer associate degrees in 1977, its name was changed to New England Institute of Technology (NEIT). In 1982, NEIT was accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC). Two years later, in addition to associate degrees, the State of Rhode Island authorized NEIT to confer baccalaureate degrees and such other degrees, earned and honorary, as are usually conferred by colleges and universities in addition to its associate degree programs. By 1990, four new bachelor’s programs had been added to the university’s offerings. In 1995, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges’ Commission on Technical and Career Institutions awarded accreditation to NEIT as a baccalaureate-granting institution. In 2005, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges continued NEIT’s accreditation through its Commission on Institutions of Higher Education. This accreditation continues today through the New England Commission of Higher Education. In 2010, the university began enrolling students for its first Master of Science degree program, and in 2018, the university offered its first post-professional doctoral program.

The original educational programs have increased to over 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in such diverse fields as automotive technology, business management, criminal justice, information technology, electrical engineering technology, mechanical engineering technology, nursing, occupational therapy, surgical technology, and digital media production. The campus that started in an older mill-style building in Providence, Rhode Island, now encompasses three locations in Rhode Island: the main campus in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, featuring a residence hall, and two campuses in Warwick, RI. See a detailed description in the  General Information section.

These dynamic changes to its program offerings and physical plant symbolize NEIT’s response to the radical transformation that new technologies have brought to the workplace. The needs of tomorrow’s students demand access to those technological resources that will enable them to realize technology’s full potential to change their education and their lives. As it has since its beginning, NEIT has chosen to meet that challenge: the success of the university will continue to be measured by its graduates’ accomplishments in the world they are entering both as workers and citizens.