Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology

Our Mission

Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (BFIT) is an affordable, urban, private, nonprofit college serving the Boston region and committed to student success and career readiness in technology fields. Through personalized support, hands-on learning, and industry-informed curricula, BFIT prepares graduates for work, life-long learning, and citizenship.

Our Vision and Core Values

BFIT’s vision is to be a best-in-class college that provides a supportive learning environment and offer innovative, practical and entrepreneurial education resulting in career-ready, productive and civically-engaged citizens.

We value our diverse community and the fostering of a supportive learning environment. We are committed to creating opportunity by working closely with industry and community partners to prepare our students for lifelong learning in an increasingly interdependent world. Our academic programs and co-curricular efforts reflect our commitment to the fundamental principles of an educated person. We value the following skills and attributes and actively promote their development through college-wide initiatives, so that each student:

• Possesses the technical skills to enter the workforce or go on to further education
• Demonstrates professionalism through leadership, a strong work ethic, and teamwork
• Communicates effectively both professionally and personally
• Utilizes critical thinking and various approaches to problem solving
• Possesses the lifelong skills to locate, evaluate and use information effectively
• Understands the impact of sustainable development
• Is globally and ethically responsible and civically engaged

Our History

Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology owes its existence to the vision and wisdom of Benjamin Franklin, a world-renowned diplomat, scientist, inventor, civic activist, and statesman.

Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706, and learned the printing trade here. After working briefly with his father, a tallow chandler, he became an apprentice to his brother James, one of the few printers in Boston, where he learned the trade. Eventually a bitter quarrel with James led to a split that resulted in Ben’s move to Philadelphia in his late teens after James warned his competitors not to hire Ben. Unlike so many of the Founding Fathers who came from the colonial gentry, Franklin belonged to the “leather apron” class. Although one of the most significant men of his era, he remained ever proud of his trade and specified that his gravestone be engraved “Benjamin Franklin, Printer.”

Franklin believed that “good apprentices are likely to make good citizens,” and in his will in 1789, he stipulated a gift of £1000 to “the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston.” He noted that the kindness of two friends in helping him set up his business had been the basis of his fortune. “I wish to be useful even after my death…in forming and advancing other young people who may be serviceable to their country.” The interest was to augment the principal continually, and at the end of one 100 years, part of the fund was to be expended for “public works” and the balance was to be compounded for a second hundred years.

In December 1904, the steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who heralded Benjamin Franklin as one of his heroes, matched the money in the Franklin Fund to build the college on two conditions: that the school be an industrial school similar to the Cooper Union, and that the City of Boston provide the land. When the first part of the fund matured just before the turn of the century, the Board of Managers of the Franklin Foundation agreed with Carnegie that a school providing training in the sciences would constitute the best and appropriate means of accomplishing Franklin’s beneficent purposes

On September 25, 1908, the Franklin Union, which is now Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, was dedicated. Well over 200 years after his death, Franklin’s legacy continues to do great public good. Franklin’s vision has guided the college’s pragmatic approach of developing curricula that meets industry needs, and ensuring student success through comprehensive support. Our goal is to create a career path by developing a learning environment, through industry partnerships, shared resources, and effective classroom and laboratory practices, which sets the standard for a job-oriented technical education, at both the associate and bachelor’s degree level.

Fun Historical Facts

• Soon after Henry Ford introduced the Model T, the affordable car that would put average Americans on the road, the course in Gas and Gasoline Engines became so popular that the College had to establish a waiting list and people lined up around the corner of Berkeley Street and onto Tremont in order to get on the list.
• On May 15, 1916, the first conference call was made at the college, linking San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. More than nine hundred people filled the Franklin Union auditorium to hear guest speakers from around the country via telephone, including Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, and his assistant, Thomas A. Watson.
• On November 14, 1927 the very first fax was sent from the college. W.E Harkness of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company gave the first public demonstration of the newly developed telephoto process, which could transmit a five-by-seven inch photograph anywhere in the country over telephone wires in seven minutes, a boon especially for the newspaper industry.