History
| April | 1977 | Planning office for University of the Air established. |
| April | 1978 | Planning office for National Institute of Multimedia Education established at Tokyo Institute of Technology. |
| October | National Institute of Multimedia Education established in Chiba City as a national inter-university research institute. The organization includes research and development divisions (Research and Development Office No. 1 to 5) and administrative divisions (General Affairs Division, Accounting Division, Facilities Division). Kenji Fujita takes up position of Director-General. Serves to June 24, 1981. |
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| April | 1981 | Institute moves to Wakaba 2-chome in Chiba City. |
| July | The University of the Air Foundation established. | |
| January | 1982 | Isao Amagi takes up position of Director-General. Serves to March 31, 1988. |
| March | 1983 | Production building construction completed. |
| April | Production department established (with Planning and Management Division, Engineering Division). The University of the Air is founded. | |
| November | Studios commence operation in the production building. | |
| September | 1986 | Research studio enters operation. |
| April | 1988 | Hidetoshi Kato takes up position of Director-General. Serves to March 31, 1996. |
| June | 1989 | Institutes designation changed to make it an inter-university research institute not belonging to a particular university, no longer exclusively for national universities. |
| April | 1996 | Takashi Sakamoto takes up position of Director-General. Serves to March 31, 2004. |
| October | Space Collaboration System (SCS) commences operation. | |
| April | 2001 | Department of Cyber Society and Culture established in the School of Cultural and Social Studies, Graduate University for Advanced Studies, with NIME as the core institution. |
| April | 2004 | National Institute of Multimedia Education transition to an Independent Administrative Institution becomes effective. Yasutaka Shimizu takes up position of President. |
| March | 2005 | NIME-glad commences operation. |
| October | 2006 | GLOBE commences operation. |
| November | 2007 | UPO-NET established. |
| March | 2009 | National Institute of Multimedia Education abolished. |
| April | 2009 | Center of ICT and Distance Education, the Open University of Japan, established. Hiroshi Kato takes up position of Director. |
