Staring towards Elizabeth Street from Flinders Street Railway Station in Melbourne CBD – the globe’s most livable city and a hub of international education, RGIT Australia’s main campus building is unmissable. Proudly displaying its name, the building stands tall and formidable – almost as a testament to the strong foundation the institution enjoys.
Proudly established in the spring of 2008, a long serving establishment, Royal Greenhill Institute of Technology (RGIT) Australia has stood there for more than a decade, and has helped shape careers of thousands of students who have chosen the reputed educational institution for its distinguished courses. Over the course of time, they have added new courses, new campuses, and grown exponentially – all amidst a rapidly changing Australian and global education landscape.
RGIT’s Beginning:
Mr. Chandra Yonzon, an established figure in Melbourne’s restaurant and hospitality industry realised the need for more skilled human resources in the industry. Therefore, to fill Australia’s gap for trained personnel in the Hospitality Industry, Mr. Yonzon founded this boutique Hospitality and Management School back in 2008.
Within a very short period of time, the institution was able to gain popularity among International Students and became an institute of choice for hundreds of students. Students pursued highly demanded courses such as Hospitality Management and Information Technology.
Navigating a rapidly changing Australian and global education industry, GIHM added several other hospitality related courses. In 2010, GIHM became Gurkhas Institute of Technology (GIT) and received approval to train domestic students for work –ready skills. Work-ready skills would go a long way to help students gain crucial skills towards their career development.
In 2011, the institute received official permission to add the “Royal” designation to its name, and therefore, adopting its new name “Royal Gurkhas Institute of Technology” (RGIT).
Growth and Expansion:
RGIT soon started adapting and changing to the dynamic education industry. Adhering to its vision of being one of the leading private providers of vocational education and training in Australia, its special emphasis lay on quality training programs that are relevant to employment trends.
By 2013, it had established a second campus, the London House in Melbourne’s CBD. In 2014, it opened its third campus in Hobart, Tasmania. The establishment of Hobart Campus was driven with a purpose to help the Tasmanian government meet the demand for skilled workers in Tasmania and Hobart.
RGIT Today:
Today, RGIT has established itself as a leading Vocational Education and Training (VET) Institute in Australia. The institute offers vocational courses in Business and Management, English, Health Sciences, Hospitality, Nursing and Informational Technology. RGIT Australia also provides several short courses which include Barista Courses, Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA), First Aid and Food Safety (1 and 2).
Dedicated to continuous improvement and via a development perspective, RGIT Australia has decided to embrace a new brand name to accommodate international education. It has changed its name to Royal Greenhill Institute of Technology. While the acronym is still RGIT, it has replaced the ‘Gurkhas’ with ‘Greenhill’.
According to Chandra Yonzon, CEO of RGIT Australia, ‘the decision was arrived upon to include the institution’s global perspective of education in its brand name, and to be more inclusive.”
Greenhill was the Oakhill suburb in Melbourne’s north in which Mr. Yonzon and his family grew up in, and Mr. Yonzon wanted to memorialize the name into something concrete, therefore added it to his institution.
The path forward:
For Mr. Yonzon, RGIT’s success can be attributed towards the institution’s ability to adapt, thrive and its special focus on sustained development. “RGIT’s values, and the support of our staff and our students has brought us this far”, Mr. Yonzon believes.
Mr. Yonzon believes in teamwork, and RGIT Australia has been able to build a very strong team of talented people who have helped the institution scale new heights in the last decade. RGIT Australia’s strong team was able to act swiftly during the Covid-19 pandemic too. Converting available technology into reality, RGIT Australia was able to deliver face to face classes for international students using ‘virtual learning’ with great success.
RGIT, quick to realise future trends, is already working on the next big thing in education – online study. RGIT has launched its RGIT-Online courses for its full fee-paying domestic students. Students who wish to study online (or remotely) can now study at RGIT.
More information is available at: https://studyonline.rgit.edu.au/
