The New Jersey Institute of Technology is one of the nation’s top polytechnic universities. The institution prepares its students to one day be able to lead our technology-heavy world. Though NJIT is a smaller than most other technical institutions, it provides the resources of a major public research university.

NJIT is proud of the fact that approximately one-fourth of New Jersey engineers are its graduates. Additionally, NJIT has one of the highest percentages of students on the pre-medical track who are accepted to medical schools nationwide.

NJIT continues to develop plans that focus on the success of the university as a whole and on the future of its graduates. NJIT has a 2020 Vision – A Strategic Plan with 5 core priorities. The five goals include that the number of high achieving students who graduate should increase; the learning environment should be challenging, intellectual, and hands-on; scholarly research is to increase; the community is to engage locally, regionally, and globally; and investments should increase.

NJIT has a rich history; it opened in 1881 as Newark Technical School, with the support of local industrialists and inventors. It then grew to be Newark College of Engineering. In 1973, the School of Architecture was added, making NJIT a polytechnic university that now proudly boasts six colleges. The school was only renamed from Newark College of Engineering to the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 1975.

Part of why NJIT has such a fascinating history is because it developed during the industrial age. Newark, the largest city in New Jersey, was a thriving industrial center, and also the main setting for Thomas Edison’s achievements. An act passed by Essex County Assemblymen in the state legislature called “An Act to Provide for the Establishment of Schools of Industrial Education” played a major role in the formation of the Newark Technical School; as it was believed that more schools should be established in Newark to teach its people how to help more with the ongoing industrial growth. The Newark Technical School opened on Monday, February 9, 1885 with 88 students who were motivated enough to attend the first day despite a terrible snowstorm.

NJIT continues to serve in Newark’s economic development, and also helps small and medium-sized companies throughout New Jersey by providing technical assistance. furthermore, NJIT is highly renowned for its challenging coursework, and high achieving graduates. NJIT is well known for its a great return value for its graduates, which they obtain quickly after they graduate. Students, faculty, and Newark eagerly await to see how the university works to achieve its 2020 Vision.