Dunwoody College was founded as a technical institute in 1914, when Minneapolis businessman William Hood Dunwoody left three million dollars in his will to "provide for all time a place where youth without distinction on account of race, color or religious prejudice, may learn the useful trades and crafts, and thereby fit themselves for the better performance of life's duties.

The Minneapolis City Council closed the streets and alleys that traversed the area creating a site of approximately 16 acres (6.5 ha).

Located across from St. Mary’s Basilica and Loring Park, just west of downtown, the new facility was dedicated on October 31, 1917, and the space at Minneapolis Central High School was left empty.

Prosser’s May 1918 commencement address contrasted the new facility with the old one used in cooperation with the Minneapolis school district: “Roughly four years ago we were quartered in an old, tumble-down building that, with the kindness of the board of education, served us well in time of need.”[2]

This reciprocity allowed Dunwoody instructors to enroll in and receive credit for courses offered by the College of Education at the University that were part of the teacher training authorized by the Smith Hughes Act.

There were no other recognizable post-secondary technical institutes or colleges at this time in Minnesota.In 1953 the Ford Foundation gave Dunwoody a grant to send representatives to consult with the Indonesian Ministry of Education.

On November 27, 1953, K. Nagaraja Rao, a graduate of the University of Mysore in India, became the head of Dunwoody Industrial Institute’s new International Services Division.

The Central Training Institute in Bombay, India, opened in March 1963 with the assistance of a five-member team from Dunwoody, the Indian government and the US Department of Education.

The March 29, 1963 issue of the Dunwoody News contains a facsimile of the formal invitation indicating that Prime Minister Nehru of India would address the institute's inauguration ceremony.

Robert R. Minarik, a graduate of the Dunwoody electronics program and the University of Minnesota, replaced Rao, bringing his experience from Burma and Saudi Arabia.

In Saudi Arabia, the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) began a long-term training relationship that lasted into the '80s.

The objective was to assist in training the indigenous Indonesian workforce as electrical, mechanical, and mobile machinery operators at the townsite of Tembaga Pura.