The university was founded as Mandalay Institute of Technology (MIT) on October 1, 1991 and became the 2nd university of engineering and technology to be founded in Myanmar after Yangon Institute of Technology (now Yangon Technological University).^[2] In 2012, Mandalay Institute of Technology (MIT) was renamed Mandalay Technological University (MTU).

In March 2012, Centers of Excellence (COE) project, that selected the best technological universities in the country to upgrade and meet the international standard in engineering education, was initiated by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Mandalay Technological University (MTU) for the students who passed from the Upper Myanmar exam centers and Yangon Technological University (YTU) for the students who passed matriculation exam from Lower Myanmar exam centers were designated as COEs. Since then, Mandalay Technological University (MTU) has started to accept the best and most outstanding students around the country to undergraduate programs and they are called as Center of Excellence (COE) students. Only top 1.2% scorers in the annual University Entrance Examination are accepted to MTU, and thus MTU remains the best university which students need best scores among all the students around Myanmar to get acceptance.