Upon its dissolution, the institute had 17,000 students studying in art, business, engineering, music, drama and science disciplines.

This is underlined by the fact that, after Dublin Institute of Technology, CIT has the most extensive delegated authority to award PhDs.

Across the Institute faculties and constituent colleges, academic staff research interests range across Engineering, Science, Business and Humanities, Music and Art.

[15] The CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory runs a programme in partnership with the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California.

[16] CIT has also established various industrial alliances, particularly with Dell EMC and VMware, both of which have a business presence in Cork.

The programme supports entrepreneurs (for "knowledge based" fields "with export potential" such as Food, Information Technology, Biotech, Telecommunications, Renewable Energy, Medical Device and Automotive) in the South West region.

[citation needed] The main campus of some eighty acres is situated in Bishopstown, in the western suburbs of Cork city.

[citation needed] With over three thousand enrolments, CIT Cork School of Music offers conservatory music and drama courses, from pre-school kindermusic classes, part-time instrumental, vocal and drama lessons, life-long-learning classes and performance ensembles to its full-time degree courses at bachelors, masters and doctoral level.

The building incorporates three performance spaces, the Curtis Auditorium, Stack "Black Box" Theatre and the main Atrium which also functions as an art gallery.

Under the same roof is the Off-Quay restaurant, and a common room for full-time students with large open plan areas on all floors.

Facilities at the Sharman Crawford Street campus include studios with personal work spaces for all students, and well-equipped workshops including ceramics, metal and wood fabrication, stone carving, foundry, photography, film and video, digital media, etching, lithography, silk screen and relief printmaking, textiles and stained glass.

In 1979 the college was transferred to its current location on Sharman Crawford Street, near Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral.

The college provides a range of maritime qualifications, including at academic degree level, and its facilities can accommodate 750 students.

The college cost approximately €50 million when opened in October 2004 and was one of the first public private partnership type projects in education in the Republic of Ireland.

Machine workshops are utilised to train engineers in turning, milling, grinding, welding and the use of hand tools for fabrication.

Blackrock Castle was originally built on the River Lee in 1582 by the citizens of Cork as a watch tower and fort, assuring trade ships of a safe haven, the Elizabethan government of the era ordering a round tower constructed to protect against marauding pirates and other invaders.

The project is entitled Web of Stars, and is run in conjunction with the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California.

This project trains teachers to use real astronomy data in the classroom to support the teaching of science and mathematics.

The partnership saw the 32-metre satellite dish at Elfordstown Earthstation in Midleton, Co Cork, start a new life as a Deep Space Radio Telescope.

[33] The Deep Space Radio Telescope will[needs update] be capable of detecting a host of cosmic phenomena.

The college's primary hurling and Gaelic football pitch, located on campus, offers its own stadium.

LeisureWorld, one of Cork's fitness and health facilities, is adjacent the campus, and offers special membership rates to CIT students and staff.

[36] CIT's sports grounds play host to competitions throughout the year, including schools matches in Gaelic football, hurling, soccer and rugby.

In the past, CIT has hosted the Avonmore Milk Munster Youth's Cup Rugby semi-finals, Simcox, Coirn Uí Mhuirí and various other competitions.

[35] In 2009 CIT won the Sigerson Cup, the premier Gaelic football competition in Ireland for the first time, beating Dublin Institute of Technology by 5 points in the final.

Other sports offered by the college include martial arts such as aikido, judo, karate, kickboxing and taekwondo.

In addition to Gaelic games, soccer and rugby, CIT has teams involved in field sports such as flag football and hockey.

Canoeing, rowing, sailing, sub aqua, surfing, and swimming make up the college's range of water sports, while many students also participate and compete in indoor sports such as aerobics, badminton, basketball, boxing, gymnastics, trampoling, pool, racquetball, table tennis and volleyball.

[37] In May 2020, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced the formal approval of Munster Technological university, to begin operations in January 2021.

[42] A Freedom of Information request revealed in December 2020 that Cork IT spent €55,560.79 on legal fees after sexual harassment claims during each academic year between September 2015 and the middle of 2019.