[2][3] ISM has seven campuses in Dortmund, Frankfurt am Main (2007), Munich (2009), Hamburg (2010), Cologne(2014), Stuttgart (2016) and Berlin (2019).

[2][4] Originally founded in 1990 as IDB-Wirtschaftsakademie in Dortmund by Klaus Evard, it was renamed the International School of Management (ISM) in 1992.

In 1994 it was recognized as a private university of applied sciences for originally five years and received an extension.

ISM is recognized by the Ministry of Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, giving degrees that it issues equal status to those obtained at state universities.

[6] In the 2020 U-Multirank ranking, ISM achieved a global Top 25 score in the categories, Contact to work environment and Student mobility.