History

The School today emerges from origins dating back to the 1920s when Footscray Technical College and Footscray Institute of Technology (FIT) offered the region's first formal engineering programs. In the mid 1970s, the Institute introduced a Bachelor of Engineering degree, which flagged the provision of FIT's first professional degrees, accredited with the Institution of Engineers, Australia. In 1991, FIT merged with the Western Institute through an Act of Parliament that established Victoria University. In 1997, the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Civil and Building Engineering merged to form the School as we know it today.

The School and its predecessor Departments have been instrumental in the establishment of two of the University's research centres namely the Centre for Environmental Safety and Risk Engineering and the Centre for Packaging Transportation and Storage. As the University re-focuses its research effort, the School is playing an important role in the establishment of the Institute for Sustainability and the Institute for Integrated Freight Systems.