The Gordon Institute of TAFE is the Technical and Further Education institute predominantly servicing the wider Geelong area. The Gordon opened in 1887 and celebrated 130 years of providing education in 2017.

The Gordon provides education to 13,500+ students annually and with 500+ staff members, it is one of the largest employers in Geelong. The Gordon offers 350+ courses across several campuses located in Geelong City, East Geelong, Werribee and Hoppers Crossing. Sixty percent (60%) of The Gordon students live in the wider Geelong region. The Gordon Institute of TAFE was opened in 1888 as the Gordon Memorial Technical College.

The college had its beginnings in 1885, when 500 people met at the Geelong Town Hall to decide upon a memorial to General Charles George Gordon, who died at Khartoum in January 1885. William Humble (owner of the Vulcan Foundry) and George link (Matthew Flinders school headmaster) decided that a school of art be erected in his honor.

Opening of the Gordon Technical College, 1910. The foundation stone was laid in July 1887 for the first building, Davidson Hall. The land selected for the school was originally part of Johnstone Park, Geelong. January 16, 1888 saw the first term at the Gordon Memorial Technical College commence. There were 63 students enrolled, in subjects ranging from mechanical drawing, to architecture, and languages. In 1890, the two storey trade engineering and chemistry buildings opened on Fenwick Street. April 1891 saw the three-storey administration building open next door. Behind this building, a time capsule was laid. Opened in 1987, the capsule contained copies of Geelong and Melbourne newspapers of the time, as well as reports from the city council. The northern Fenwick Street building was added in 1916 and the Hitchcock art studio in 1910.