Institute of Technology

Institute of technology, and polytechnic, are designations employed in a wide range of learning institutions awarding different types of degrees and operating often at variable levels of the educational system. It may refer to both an institution of higher education specializing in technology, a vocational education institution specialized in technical education, or a mixture of both. It can be also the name of any secondary education school using that terms, usually focused in vocational training courses. The term polytechnic comes from the Greek πολύ polú meaning "many" and τεχνικός tekhnikós meaning "arts". While the term "institute of technology" is often abbreviated IT, the term is not to be confused with information technology. The designation "institute of technology" is related with the technological character of those institutions. A wide range of terms and school types are seen around the globe, using both names (polytechnic and institute of technology).

The first institutes of technology and polytechnics have existed at least since the 18th century but became increasingly popular post-WWII with the expansion of technical education, associated with the new needs created by generalized industrialization. In some cases, polytechnics or institutes of technology are engineering schools or technical colleges. More rarely, both polytechnics (as the Polytechnic Universities) and institutes of technology (as Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, MIT and ETH Zurich) are considered universities when they have autonomy to offer masters and doctoral degrees and they are at the same time independent research institutions, these conditions being necessary to be formally considered a university.

The term institute of technology is used in many countries rather than polytechnic, and indeed in these countries the latter term may never have been common (the opposite is also true). For example in Canada the British Columbia Institute of Technology is one such institution, and École de technologie supérieure. Indian Institutes of Technology is used in India to denote a number of specific institutes which were based on a post WWII recommendation for industrialization. In Ireland the term Institute of Technology is more favored now to the term Regional Technical College though the latter is the legally correct term; Dublin Institute of Technology is an institute which is a university in all but name as it can confer degrees in accordance with law. The Federal Institute of Technology located in Zurich, Switzerland and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA, USA are possibly some of the oldest institutions to use "institute of technology" in its title and being actually universities.

Although being today generally considered similar institutions of higher learning across many countries, polytechnics and institutes of technology used to have a quite different statute among each other, its teaching competencies and organizational history. In many cases "polytechnic" was a former designation for a vocational institution, before it has been granted the exclusive right to award academic degrees and can be truly called an "institute of technology".

Polytechnic type institutions survive in many countries. There is often not the same distinction between polytechnics and universities that was seen in Britain. All over the world, after many legal and curricular reforms, some polytechnics are often seen today as being quite similar to universities in terms of standards and quality. However, many of those polytechnics are simply a result of a formal upgrading from its original and historical role as intermediate technical education schools. Many former polytechnics have emerged through an administrative change of statutes, which often includes a name change with the introduction of new designations like Institute of Technology, University of Applied Sciences, or University of Technology for marketing purposes, with limited exceptions.

The emergence of so many upgraded polytechnics, former vocational education and technical schools converted into more university-like institutions like the institutes of technology, polytechnic universities, universities of applied sciences, or universities of technology has caused concern in many countries where the lack of specialized intermediate technical professionals, lead to industrial skill shortages in some fields, being also associated to an increase of the graduate unemployment rate. Other evidence have shown a declining in the general quality of teaching and graduates preparation for the workplace, due to the fast-paced re conversion of that technical institutions to more advanced higher level institutions.

Arkansas Tech University, Russellville, Arkansas, USA
California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly or Cal Poly SLO), San Luis Obispo, California, USA
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona), Pomona, California, USA
California Institute of Technology (Cal tech), Pasadena, California, USA
Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech), Melbourne, Florida, USA
Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT or Illinois Tech), Chicago, Illinois, USA
Indiana Institute of Technology (Indiana Tech), Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State), Ames, Iowa, USA
Lawrence Technological University (Lawrence Tech), Southfield, Michigan, USA
Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana, USA
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Michigan Technological University (MTU or Michigan Tech), Houghton, Michigan, USA
Montana Tech of The University of Montana, Butte, Montana, USA
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Newark, New Jersey, USA
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech), Socorro, New Mexico, USA
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), Old Westbury, NY, USA
Polytechnic University of New York (Poly), Brooklyn, New York, USA
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, New York, USA
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Rochester, New York, USA
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT), Terre Haute, Indiana, USA
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (Mines), Rapid City, South Dakota, USA
State University of New York Institute of Technology (SUNYIT), Utica, New York, USA
Stevens Institute of Technology (Stevens Tech), Hoboken, New Jersey, USA
Tennessee Technological University (Tennessee Tech), Cookeville, Tennessee, USA
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA
University of Minnesota, Institute of Technology, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech or West Virginia Tech), Montgomery, West Virginia, USA
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Worcester, Massachusetts, USA