The Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) was established by the
Irish government in 1970 as the Athlone Regional Technical College, under control of the local Vocational Education Committee. The college gained more autonomy with the enactment of the
Regional Technical Colleges Act 1992. In late 1997, as with the other RTC's, it was renamed as the Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT). In 1999, AIT became a validation authority with the power to award
HETAC degrees. In 2000, Ciarán Ó Catháin was appointed as the institute's president. Dr. David Fenton and James Coyle were previous holders of the post, having been called director and principal. In 2001, a School of Humanities was opened. In 2010, then-president of Ireland
Mary McAleese spoke at the fortieth anniversary of the college. The AIT had a campus size of 44 acres, and new, purpose-built facilities that included the Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Studies building, built in 2003; the Nursing and Health Science building and the Midlands Innovation and Research Centre, built in 2005; as well as the Engineering and Informatics building and the Postgraduate Research Hub, built in 2010.
RTÉ's Midlands studio and office have been located at the institute. The institute had a
memorandum of understanding with the
Rio de Janeiro State University, one of the largest universities in the Brazilian city. It also had agreements with the
Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, one of the largest Brazilian private universities. The institute also founded agreements with two leading Beijing universities, the
Capital University of Economics and Business and the
Beijing Union University. The agreements were signed by the Chinese Ambassador to Ireland and university representatives. Further agreements existed with the
Bharati Vidyapeeth, one of the largest universities in
India.
College of sanctuary In 2017, AIT became the first designated
college of sanctuary in Ireland.
AIT-LIT Consortium and dissolution In 2018, the institute had investigated the possibility of becoming a university in its own right. A consortium between itself and the
Limerick Institute of Technology was announced in October 2019 with the intention of forming a technological university. On 23 November 2020, the
AIT-LIT Consortium announced that the joint Limerick-Athlone IT application for technological university (TU) status had been submitted for approval. Approval was announced in May 2021 by
minister of Higher Education,
Simon Harris. On 16 July 2021, both itself and the
Limerick Institute of Technology were officially dissolved through a signed order by the minister. The institute was succeeded by the
Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, which began operations on 1 October 2021. == Facilities ==