Nearly 7,000 people signed a petition to save the brutalist-style building on Ring Road, just outside the city centre, after the university had announced plans to demolish it.
Also known as the MK Building, the landmark first opened in 1970 coinciding with the College of Art merging with the College of Technology to form Wolverhampton Polytechnic.
The move to protect the property was granted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on the advice of Historic England.