Dublin Institute of Technology

Federal model (1978–1992)

In 1978 the College of Technology joined with the other five institutions to form the Dublin Institute of Technology, a federation of colleges.

Unitary college model

In 1992, Dublin Institute of Technology was established by legislation as a single institution, under the Dublin Institute of Technology Act.

Towards university status

An application for university designation in 1996 was declined but with the expert panel viewing the institution as on a trajectory for university designation. Dublin Institute of Technology now has a scope of activities and variety of powers identical to those of a university, and its degrees are recognised as such both in Ireland and internationally. For twenty-five years, DIT had legislative authority to award Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degrees that comply fully with the Irish national qualifications framework originally put in place by the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland. DIT awarded Professorships from 2003.

Technological University status

In 2014, the institution entered into a formal process which led to its designation as a technological university, jointly with two other institutions, Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown (ITB) and Institute of Technology, Tallaght (ITT). A final application was submitted in April 2018 and the formation of the Technological University Dublin, "TU Dublin", was approved in July 2018. It was launched 1 January 2019.

Degree-awarding powers

In 1975 the University of Dublin entered into an agreement whereby it conferred academic degrees at the colleges that formed Dublin Institute of Technology; this allowed these graduates a vote in the Dublin University constituency for Seanad Éireann representatives. This continued until 1998, when Dublin Institute of Technology was granted its own autonomous degree-awarding powers under the Dublin Institute of Technology Act 1992.