Floria Institute of Technology, also known as Florida Tech, is a private, independent technical university located in Melbourne, Florida. Founded in 1958 as Brevard Engineering College, the institute has been known by its present name since 1966. Florida Tech's curriculum is largely focused on engineering fields, and places highly in several regional and national college-ranking surveys. The institute has a student body of over 5,100, almost equally divided between graduate- and undergraduate-level students, with the plurality of them focusing their studies on engineering and the hard sciences.