Forty years of progress

London Business School is young compared to its competitors, but it has accomplished a phenomenal amount in its short history. The School has achieved praise for its rigorous and influential academic work, while being rated as one of the world's top business schools for its degree and non-degree programmes.

Key dates which stand out in the School's history are: November 1964 and the first meeting of the Governing Body; April 1965, when Dr Arthur Earle joined as the first Principal; and May 1965 when the first two professors were appointed.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II opened the School's current building in 1970.

On 3 September 1986 London Business School was incorporated by Royal Charter. Under the charter the School changed its name from 'London Graduate School of Business' to 'London Business School'.

In 1992, the Queen's Award for Export was awarded to the School in recognition of its provision of educational services to managers and companies worldwide.

Programme history

February 1966, the School launched its first executive programme.

Later that same year, the School launched its full-time MSc degree, which in July 1987 was for the first time awarded as the Masters of Business Administration.

The Sloan Fellowship MSc Programme, the only one outside of the US, was first offered in 1968 with funding from the Sloan Foundation.

In January 1983 the first part-time masters students, studying the Executive MBA, entered the School and in 2001 the first EMBA-Global degree in partnership with Columbia Business School was offered. The EMBA programme portfolio has since evolved, with the launch of the Dubai-London Executive MBA, which welcomes its first cohort of students in September 2007. 

The first Masters in Finance programme was launched at the School in 1993.

In our fifth decade, we have much to celebrate and anticipate.