The foundation of the School dates back to 1918, when the Manchester Municipal College of Technology (as UMIST was then called) pioneered academic training in management, with the formation of a Department of Industrial Administration[3][4][5] funded by an endowment from asbestos magnate Sir Samuel Turner.

[6] The London School of Economics and Manchester Municipal College of Technology were the first higher education institutions in the UK to follow the US trend of offering postgraduate management programmes in the 1930s.

[7] The Department of Industrial Administration was heavily influenced by management science pioneer Charles Garonne Renold.

Prior to merger the constituent parts of new MBS formed, from 1994,[15] the "Manchester Federal School of Business and Management".

The 18 months full-time MBA program is known for its "Manchester Method" which puts emphasis on learning by doing throughout the entire duration of the programme, including significant real life projects.

[22] In addition, the school offers the so-called "Manchester Gold" programme, a mentoring scheme to provide students with opportunities to meet regularly with professionals from a wide variety of sectors and industries.

Last year's mentors, for example, came from high-profile companies such as Morgan Stanley, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Royal Dutch Shell Group, IBM Global Services and GlaxoSmithKline among many others.

Its MBA is one of a select band worldwide which receive triple accreditation by AACSB International, AMBA and EQUIS.

This programme provides online instruction along with the ability for students to study at any of six global centres, while receiving the same degree.

Students spend one week per semester attending workshops at one of the seven centres, and ten nights' hotel stay is included with the cost of tuition.

The plans reconfigure the existing precinct centre to create up to 14 units with double-height glazed frontages onto Oxford Road.

The variety of units will create a mixed offer of retail, food and leisure for students, staff and visitors to the University and Business School.

The offer will complement the new hotel and enhanced Manchester Business School Executive Education Centre, both of which are being developed as part of phase one, which was granted planning consent in April 2013 with construction due to commence later in 2014.

In addition to the retail and leisure, phase two includes the removal of a link bridge across Oxford Road to improve views and light levels in the area.

The phase two redevelopment also includes the refurbishment of circa 200,000 sq ft of MBS facilities to create significantly improved teaching and administrative accommodation, a new Learning Library and Enterprise Zone.

Among its Professors with World-ranked reputations are Fiona Devine (Sociology), Luke Georghiou (Policy), Ian Miles (Technological Innovation and Social Change), Giovanni Dosi (Innovation Economics), Paul Jackson (Corporate Communications), Joseph Stiglitz (Economics), Thomas Kirchmaier (Corporate Strategy/Governance), Colin Talbot (Public Policy and Management), Jikyeong Kang (Marketing), John Hassard (Organization Studies), Mick Marchington (HRM), Jill Rubery FBA (Employment Studies), Trevor Wood-Harper (Information Systems), Peter Kawalek (Information Systems and Strategy), Maria Nedeva (Innovation Management), Andrew Stark (Finance), Martin Walker (Accounting and Finance) and Richard Whitley (Business Systems).