Its first venture was a part-time master's degree for senior industry staff; this considered technology and management as a unified whole, with modules taught at a purpose-built residential centre.

Bhattacharya then decided to provide industry-related research services too,[1] convincing the university to loan money for a centre where academics could collaborate with industrialists on the development of new products for the aerospace and automotive industries.

The advanced technology centre was officially opened on 8 January 1990 by Margaret Thatcher[2] and its success (and the income generated) allowed WMG to build two further buildings to enable expansion into other areas, including healthcare, construction, pharmaceuticals, mining, information technology and food and drink where learning from the manufacturing industry could be applied to similar processes and services.

In 2009, WMG was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education,[7] formally presented at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 19 February 2010.

[9] May's visit was later credited with inspiring the Prime Minister to support a British industrial strategy by the Business Secretary, Greg Clark.

Clark stated that "Kumar (Lord Bhattacharyya, former chairman of WMG) created this, all those connections, all of those links between education and jobs and technology.