Imperial College Business School, a division of Imperial College London in England, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II. The business school cultivates innovative thinking and responsible leadership, preparing its students to drive global impact.
In 1851, the Great Exhibition was the first World's Fair, organised by Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. The proceeds from this event were used to establish museums and royal colleges in South Kensington, to become a centre for science, culture, and industry.[1]
In 1907, Imperial College London was established by Royal Charter, which unified the Royal College of Science, Royal School of Mines, and City and Guilds of London Institute into one university.
In 1909, King Edward VII laid the foundation stone for the Royal School of Mines building, which is part of the present-day Business School facilities.
In 1955, Imperial's first MSc in Production Engineering and Management was launched at 14 Prince's Gate.[2] In 1961, Imperial launches an MSc in Operational Research and Management Studies. In 1964, executive education short courses were launched in Operational Research.
In 1965, Imperial College London and the London School of Economics co-sponsor the founding of the London Business School.[2]
In 1971, a Department of Management Science was created.[3] In 1978, the Department of Social & Economic Studies was formed.
In 1987, the Departments of Management Science and Department of Social & Economic Studies merged to form a Management School at 53 Prince's Gate.
In 1989, an Executive MBA was launched.[4] In 2001, an Entrepreneurship Centre was established. In 2002, a Distance Learning MBA was formed. In 2003, an Innovation and Entrepreneurial group was established.
In 2003, Imperial College London elevated business to its fourth faculty, alongside science, engineering, and medicine.
In 2004, Queen Elizabeth II opened Imperial College's Tanaka Business School.[4][5]
In 2008, the business school drops the Tanaka name and becomes Imperial College Business School.[6]
In 2021, Imperial's White City Campus was opened.
The business school is on Imperial College London's main campus in South Kensington. Its modern glass architecture drew its inspiration from the Crystal Palace of the Great Exhibition, reflecting the college's historical origins. Designed by Sir Norman Foster & Partners, the landmark building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and incorporates the 19th-century vaults of the Royal School of Mines.
The business school has additional facilities on Imperial College London's White City campus, which serves as an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem for collaboration between students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and industry. Included on the White City campus is the Scale Space, set up as a community to help innovative companies accelerate growth. Located there are Imperial's Translation and Innovation Hub, Imperial's White City Incubator, Invention Rooms, and a Hackspace for manufacturing equipment and training.[7]
The business school offers undergraduate and postgraduate education, including a Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master's degrees, Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD), as well as executive education.[8]
The business school is focused by five themes:
Imperial operates the following research centres:
Imperial College London consistently ranks among the top 10 global universities. The 2025 QS World University Rankings ranked Imperial 2nd worldwide, behind MIT, tying its highest ever position.[13] The Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked Imperial 8th worldwide and 3rd in Europe.[14]
Imperial College London has a reputation for its entrepreneurial culture that integrates business and science.[15] It has some of the UK's best-resourced entrepreneurial facilities and the largest entrepreneurial mentoring system in the country, modeled after MIT.[15] The Enterprise Lab notably has a startup survival rate of 79%.[15]
According to the UK government's 2021 Research Excellence Framework, Imperial was ranked 2nd in the UK for 'business and management' research, with 97% of its business and management research classified as 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent'.[16][17]
The 2024 QS rankings placed Imperial's MBA programme 9th in Europe, and the Financial Times ranked it 10th in Europe.[18][19] Additionally, the 2023 QS rankings highlighted the MBA programme as 3rd worldwide for career specialisation in entrepreneurship.[20]
In 2024 QS ranked Imperial's master's programmes as follows: marketing is 4th worldwide,[21] business analytics is 6th worldwide,[22] finance is 13th worldwide,[23] and management is 14th worldwide.[24] The Financial Times ranked the master's in finance 15th worldwide.[25]
Imperial also has a reputation for the high employability of its graduates. In 2024, it was ranked 1st in the UK for highly skilled employment or further studies by the Complete University Guide, the Guardian University Guide, and the Times Good University Guide.[26][27][28] An analysis of 2021 salary data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency found that Imperial graduates earn the highest median salaries across all subjects among UK universities.[29]
*Interim
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