The campus is also a development agency and research centre in County Tipperary, Ireland and was originally one of the five constituent schools of Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT).

The Tipperary Institute was founded by the Irish Government in 1998 and opened two campuses in Thurles and Clonmel in September 1999.

The then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern officially inaugurated the institute on 7 April 2000.

In 2021, LIT Tipperary became part of the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest.

[1] The college was originally known as the Tipperary Rural and Business Development Institute (TRBDI).