London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is "To have a profound impact on the way the world does business". The main campus is located at Sussex Place in London, adjacent to Regent's Park. In 2012, the school acquired the Marylebone Town Hall and spent £60 million to refurbish it with the objective of expanding its teaching facilities by 70% - the new building is called The Sammy Ofer Centre. In 2017, it was announced that LBS had also acquired the site of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, who vacated the building in November 2019. LBS has a secondary campus in Dubai that is dedicated to Executive Education and the Dubai EMBA.

History

Foundation

London Business School was founded in 1964 under the name of the 'London Graduate School of Business Studies', with Dr. Arthur Earle as Dean. In 1965, the school was registered as a company and was designated by the University of London as an institution having recognised teachers. In 1966, the first Executive Development Programme was launched, followed by the Senior Executive Programme. The same year, a full-time MSc degree was also launched, with Sheila Cross enrolling as the School's first female student. In 1968, the School inaugurated the Sloan Fellowship MSc programme, which was the first one outside of the US. 17 students were enrolled and the programme was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan foundation. The first doctoral programme was established in 1969 and in 1970 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II opened the School's Regent's Park campus. The first PhD was awarded in 1974, and that year women made up over 15% of the student body for the first time. In 1983, the first part-time MBA programme was held under the direction of Sir Andrew Likierman, a former Dean of the School. In 1986, the school officially became the London Business School and was incorporated by Royal Charter, which gave LBS the right to confer and grant degrees. In 1992, the School was given the Queen's Award for Export in recognition of providing educational services to managers and companies worldwide. The following year, the school started its first Masters in Finance programme and in 2001, the EMBA-Global degree programme in partnership with the Columbia Business School. In 2007 a new campus was opened in Dubai to offer both Executive MBA and Executive Education Programmes. In 2009, the school started two new programmes: The EMBA-Global Asia, in partnership with the University of Hong Kong and Columbia Business School, and the Masters in Management (MiM). In 2012, the school acquired Marylebone Town Hall and restored it with the objective of expanding its teaching facilities by 70 per cent. The building was renamed "The Sammy Ofer Centre" in honour of a generous donor, the Ofer Family, who made a gift for the development of the building, which was opened in 2017. In 2016, LBS launched a new programme, the Masters in Financial Analysis, aimed at recent graduates who wish to pursue a career in finance, and acquired the lease of the neighbouring building of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaenocologists, which it will occupy in 2020. With the objective of increasing its size, the school organised a £100 million funding campaign. By the beginning of 2016, it had raised £98 million, £40 million of which will be used to renovate the Marylebone Town Hall, with £28 million for research, £18 million in scholarships for students, £10 million to increase the school's endowment, and £4 million to improve technology across the school. By June 2016, the school had raised £125 million, including two £25 million gifts from alumni Jim Ratcliffe and Idan Ofer. François Ortalo-Magné, the French-born former Dean of the Wisconsin School of Business, succeeded Sir Andrew Likierman as Dean in August 2017. In January 2024, it was announced that the Russian economist Sergei Guriev, previously the provost of the Institut d’études politiques in Paris (Sciences Po) would take over from Ortalo-Magné at the beginning of the 2024/2025 academic year, also joining the university's faculty as a professor of Economics. Guriev took up his post on 1 August 2024.

Campus

The campus is at Sussex Place in Marylebone, on the perimeter of Regent's Park. The business school has redeveloped the Marylebone Town Hall into classrooms and offices at the Sammy Ofer Centre. It will further expand it in 2020 (see above).

Organisation and administration

List of the London Business School Deans

List of the Deans from 1965 to today:

Academics

Master in Business Administration (MBA)

The school's flagship programme is its full-time 15–21-month Master of Business Administration degree. MBA students take a prescribed set of core courses then choose from roughly 70 different electives. Class size has been around 400 students in every annual cohort. These are broken into 5 streams of approximately 80 students who take all core courses together. Beyond academics, the school puts an emphasis on personal and professional development including leadership, global awareness, and business skill building. These developments are facilitated via specialized workshops led by external consultants, students, and faculty. In addition to a range of elective courses at the London Business School, the school has partnerships with around 32 exchange schools around the world. Each academic year around 100 students spend a term at another leading business school. The MBA Programme has one of the world's largest international exchange programmes. Each year approximately 35 per cent of second-year MBAs spend a term abroad at one of over 30 partner schools, including NYU Stern School of Business, IESE Business School, Booth School of Business of The University of Chicago, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA Anderson School of Management, the MIT Sloan School of Management, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Columbia Business School, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, Indian School of Business among others.

Executive MBA

The school offers four Executive (part-time) MBA degrees, which are completed in 16–20 months. At an academic level, the school offers the same degree to both Executive (part-time) and full-time MBA students. The programmes involve very similar core courses to the full-time MBA, international field work and a wide range of elective courses. The course ends with a capstone together with company project or management report.

Sloan Masters in Leadership and Strategy

The Sloan Fellowship was established in 1968 and is a master's degree programme designed for senior executives, accomplished professionals and entrepreneurs with significant experience of decision-making at strategic levels. The admission process is highly competitive and selective. On average, Sloan Fellows already have 15 years of management experience when being admitted to the programme. A typical class is highly diverse and includes attendees from 13 to 23 countries. This 12-month, full-time master's degree programme focuses on strategy, leadership and change, and globalisation. The Sloan programme is also offered at Stanford Graduate School of Business and the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Masters in Finance

The school offers a Master's in Finance ("MiF") programme on both a part- and full-time basis. Around 120 students attend the full-time programme, while 60 attend the part-time degree.

Masters in Financial Analysis (MFA)

The Masters in Financial Analysis is the most recent programme offered by the London Business School, starting in September 2016 and consists of 12 months of courses. The programme targets recent graduates with less than a year of work experience who plan to start a career in finance, typically as an analyst in an investment bank or in consulting. The curriculum consists of 12 core courses based on 5 pillars (Accounting, Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Financial Markets, and Financial Econometrics). The 12 courses are: Students must also complete three electives of which a minimum of two must be related to finance. The programme includes a business immersion week within a company (Google, Deloitte, CNN, Accenture, Blackrock etc.) to work on case studies. Finally, students participate in a Field Trip (study trip) that lasts a week. This travel experience consists of many networking dinners, company visits, and company presentations. The following destinations are available: Silicon Valley, Paris, Milan and Munich, Mumbai and Bangalore, or Shanghai.

Masters in Management (MiM)

The Masters in Management (MiM) is a one-year master's degree in management aimed at recent graduates who have less than one year of full-time postgraduate corporate work experience or less than two years of experience in a non-traditional business role. The programme is structured in 3 terms, composed of the following core courses: First term: Second term: Third term: Students must also follow 2 electives and can choose among 30 different courses. The programme includes a business immersion week within a company (Google, Deloitte, CNN, Accenture, Blackrock etc.) to work on case studies. Finally, students have to participate in a Field Trip (study trip) that lasts a week. This travel experience consists of many networking dinners, company visits, and company presentations. The following destinations are available: Silicon Valley, Paris, Milan and Munich, Mumbai and Bangalore, or Shanghai.

Rankings

2025 QS Global MBA Rankings QS Business Master's Rankings 2024 Financial Times Global MBA Rankings Financial Times Master's Rankings

Research

The school's 150 faculty work through 16 research centres or institutes. According to the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, the school came as the third department in the UK for business and management research.

PhD programme

The school offers a 5-year full-time PhD programme. It supports 60 fully funded PhD candidates in seven doctoral programmes: Accounting, Economics, Finance, Management Science & Operations, Marketing, Organisational Behaviour, and Strategic & International Management.

Student life

Clubs

There are over 70 student clubs at the school. These range from professional clubs such as consulting, entrepreneurship and energy clubs, to regional clubs including the Latin American and China club. There are also general interest and sporting clubs such as football, wine and cheese and the salsa club.

Notable people

Alumni

Alumni associations

The London Business School has 50,000 alumni in more than 150 countries. Many local clubs (Paris, New-York, Zurich etc.) organise recurrent events in their city.

Faculty and staff