[2] The college's location in Dunedin is significant, as that city has long had a history of education pioneering in New Zealand, with the country's first university, first medical school, first kindergarten, and first single-sex high school for girls.
The University of Otago began providing teacher training courses in 1905.
This co-operation continued until tertiary education reforms of the mid 1990s, after which the university offered its own B.Ed.
[1] In 2002, the Dunedin College of Education and University of Otago entered into talks to merge the two institutions to avoid the duplication of teaching courses and programs.
[4] As a result of these changes, the newly formed University of Otago College of Education acquired the former assets of the Dunedin College of Education including its Dunedin and Invercargill campuses and the Robertson Library, which is shared with Otago Polytechnic.