Florida Institute of Technology

The Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech or FIT) is a private research university in Melbourne, Florida. The university comprises four academic colleges: Engineering & Science, Aeronautics, Psychology & Liberal Arts, and Business.Approximately half of FIT's students are enrolled in the College of Engineering & Science. The university's 130-acre primary residential campus is near the Melbourne Orlando International Airport and the Florida Tech Research Park. The campus is located 16 miles from Patrick Space Force Base. The university was founded in 1958 as Brevard Engineering College to provide advanced education for professionals working in the U.S. space program at the Kennedy Space Center and Space Launch Delta 45 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Since 1966, when it combined the Institute of Technology (FIT) following University of Central Florida's name change, FIT has gone by its current name Florida Tech. In 2021, Florida Tech had an on-campus student body of 5,693 between its Melbourne Campus, Melbourne Sites, and Education Centers, as well as 3,623 students enrolled in their online programs, almost equally divided between graduate and undergraduate students with the majority focusing their studies on engineering and the sciences. Florida Tech is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".