The Victoria Institution (commonly known as VI) is an all-boys secondary school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is one of the earliest and most prominent secondary schools in the city and was established as a memorial school commemorating the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.
VI is a secondary school for male students only from Form 1 to 5. Female students are accepted for Form 6 (Lower and Upper) and the students are known as Victorians.
VI was founded following a public subscription initiative to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. The school was further supported by financial contributions from the Sultan and government of Selangor, as well as prominent residents of Kuala Lumpur.
The foundation stone was laid on 14 August 1893 by Lady Treacher, wife of the then Resident of Selangor, Sir William Hood Treacher. The school officially opened on 28 July 1894 at its original site along what is now Jalan Tun H.S. Lee.
Due to frequent flooding from the Klang River, the school relocated to Shaw Road (now Jalan Hang Tuah) on 26 March 1929. On 13 September 1945, the Victoria Institution was the site of the formal surrender of the 29th Imperial Japanese Army to Lieutenant-General Ouvry Roberts of the British 34th Indian Corps.
The old building was then used for the premises of the Technical College up until the 1950s when the new Technical College building at Jalan Gurney (now Jalan Semarak) was completed and officially opened on the 1 March 1955 by Sir Donald MacGillivray, the British High Commissioner to Malaya.
It then housed High Street School before relocated to Setapak High School.
From the 1980s, the old premises were managed as a cultural centre known as Taman Budaya and later came under the administration of the National Department for Culture and Arts.
In 2009, the school reverted from the name SMK Victoria to Victoria Institution following approval in recognition of its historical significance and heritage status.
The school campus features a clock tower flanked by two sports pavilions overlooking a large central field. It also includes a 25-metre swimming pool and athletics facilities, making it among the earliest schools in the region to have such infrastructure.
Student leadership at Victoria Institution includes a prefect system that has historically played a role in school discipline and governance. An opinion column in Malay Mail described the schoolâÂÂs prefectsâ board as among the earliest established in the region, highlighting its longstanding influence within the school community.
Victoria Institution maintains a cadet corps as part of its co-curricular activities, and according to the schoolâÂÂs official background information, the unit was established in 1901 by the schoolâÂÂs first headmaster, En. Bennet Eyre Shaw
The Pasukan Kadet Bersatu Malaysia (PKBM), with which school cadet units are aligned nationally, was formally established under the Pasukan Kadet Bersatu Malaysia Act 1967 (Act 68).
Victoria Institution has a long-established rugby program and regularly competes in the Super Schools Rugby (SSR) championship, MalaysiaâÂÂs premier inter-school rugby competition.
In 2025, Victoria Institution reached the final of the SSR competition but finished as runners-up after a closely contested match against MRSM Balik Pulau.
The school also organises the annual Victoria Institution Premier 10s Rugby Tournament, which has been reported as a significant event in the Malaysian schools rugby calendar.
The Victoria Institution football team has achieved success at state and national levels, winning the Manchester United Premier Cup Malaysia in 2009 and 2013 and representing Malaysia at regional competitions.
The school cricket ground hosted eight matches during the 1997 ICC Trophy. It also hosted List A cricket matches during the 1998 Commonwealth Games, including fixtures involving Pakistan, Scotland, Malaysia, and Jamaica.
The following is a chronological list of headmasters and headmistresses of Victoria Institution.
The school's alumni organisation, the Victoria Institution Old Boys' Association (VIOBA), was founded in 1922 and remains active in Malaysia and abroad.
Royalty
Politician
Military
Banking
Business
Diplomacy
Economics
Law and judiciary
Sports
Medicine
Arts