In 1969, the College of Aeronautics was renamed the Cranfield Institute of Technology, was incorporated by royal charter, gained degree awarding powers, and became a university.

He led the drive for the college to diversify, with the Cranfield University School of Management being established in 1967, and petitioned successfully for a royal charter and degree awarding powers.

[10] An academic partnership with the Royal Military College of Science (RMCS) at Shrivenham was formed in 1984.

It offered short-term postgraduate degrees in defence management and technology, in partnership with local institutions and using some distance learning courses.

However South Australia's "defence boom" did not materialise and its failure to attract enough students caused the closure of the campus in 2010.

The Cranfield campus sits within the Cambridge – Milton Keynes – Oxford corridor where there are plans to link these cities and stimulate economic growth.

[16] There is also a proposal for a rapid transit system between (an expanding) Milton Keynes and the campus, although this is still at an early concept stage.

[21] In January 2019, the partners announced an international competition to design a new campus near the Central railway station.

[22] In May 2019, Santander Bank announced a 'seed funding' grant of £30 million to help with building and initial running costs.

Some of Cranfield's close partnerships include Airbus, Rolls-Royce Group, Grant Thornton, BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Ford, BP, British Airways, PWC, Jacobs, Metro Bank, L'Oréal, Royal Dutch Shell, Jaguar Land Rover, Oracle Corporation, PepsiCo, Unilever, to name just a few.

For part-time students, there are two options available – the 186-room Cranfield Management Development Centre and the 114-room Mitchell Hall, both of which are situated on campus.

Cranfield University has a number of notable academic staff and alumni, including politicians, business people, entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists, authors, and TV personalities.