Embark on a transformative journey with Imperial College London's one-year MBA at a global top-10 university. Immerse yourself in a cutting-edge ecosystem of technology and innovation, addressing the world's pivotal challenges. The Full-Time MBA seamlessly blends essential business knowledge with the latest technological insights, positioning you to shape your career and influence your industry on a global scale.
Benefit from our strategic London location, Europe's start-up capital and a major global business hub. Propel your career forward in the ever-evolving market landscape.
Designed with your success in mind, our MBA offers a balance of core learning, flexible personalisation options, and transformative global and leadership experiences.
Unlock your full potential with the Imperial College Business School MBA.
40+
elective options to personalise your MBA
81%
of graduates employed within three months (class of 2023)
5
optional concentrations
4th
in the UK (Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2024)
in Europe (Imperial College London, Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024)
2nd
in the world (Imperial College London, QS World University Rankings 2025)
#1
city for students (London, QS Best Student City Rankings 2025)
Grow as a leader
Leadership is an essential part of your MBA journey. By completing our unique LEADS module and your Personal Leadership Journey, you will gain the tools to become a responsible and impactful leader of inclusive and sustainable organisations.
Study in London
Studying your MBA in London places you in the heart of a thriving global hub, home not only to some of the most influential financial institutions, consultancy firms and tech companies in the world, but also a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Enhance your global business experience
Take advantage of global experiences to expand your mind and explore new business environments while you study. Developing a global mindset is key to your success in business. On the Imperial MBA, you will gain cultural awareness and an understanding of global markets, key skills for your career.
Personalise your MBA
Shape the Imperial MBA according to your career ambitions with the choice of flexcore modules, electives, and concentrations across a range of topics from ESG or entrepreneurship to digital strategy and transformation.
Connect with industry leaders
As an Imperial MBA student, you will have opportunities to meet accomplished business leaders through consulting assignments, innovation projects, internships, and via our industry-sponsored research centres and industry mentors and advisors.
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Programme content
Personalise the Imperial MBA according to your career ambitions. Our one-year MBA includes pre-study and core modules to ground your knowledge, as well as a choice of flexcore and elective modules to personalise your programme.
You can also choose a concentration to focus on a particular subject area and signal your interests to employers.
We are pleased to offer an optional extended term, that will allow you to extend your programme duration to 16 months. This will give you the opportunity to commit to a longer work placement or global exchange, gaining deeper work experience, global experience and earning additional credits. Please note, the extended term is subject to an additional tuition fee.
Please note, programme content is subject to change.
Through a combination of online pre-study modules and induction week, you will be ready to hit the ground running when your programme begins. This comprehensive preparation not only prepares you for the academic rigour ahead but also ensures you're thoroughly equipped to maximise the benefits of your programme.
Pre-study modules
Online
| Pre-September
Before the start of your programme, you will be expected to complete online pre-study modules, delivered via The Hub, our bespoke virtual learning environment. These include primers in key areas including accounting, careers, corporate sustainability, data analysis, finance, maths, plagiarism awareness, and social innovation and ethics.
Please note that some modules are compulsory while others are strongly recommended.
Induction week
On campus
| Early September, compulsory
Your Full-Time MBA induction will be spent at our South Kensington campus in London, where you will meet with the rest of your cohort, faculty, and programme staff. This takes place at the start of September when the programme begins and lasts for two weeks, it will include a climate change away day - an opportunity to bond with your new classmates.
Our core modules provide you with the basis of what you need to grow as a leader. Reflecting modern career requirements, this core learning strikes a balance between analytical, knowledge-oriented disciplines and subjects that emphasise vision, skills, and judgement.
Business Analytics
September-January
Managers are faced with a wealth of data. This module is about turning that data into actionable insights, leading to well-informed decisions for complex business problems. We show how to build a model of the business situation that recognises its essential features and takes account of uncertainty.
Business Problem Solving
September-January
The Business Problem Solving module aims to equip you with a range of frameworks, tools and techniques, many of which have been developed by the management consulting industry. The focus of the module will be problems that include the collection and analysis of information/data.
Corporate Finance 1
September-January
Corporate finance matters, both to the success of organisations, and to economies. The business world is affected, and at times, influenced, by the financial decisions made by corporations. It is important that you understand the major types of financial decisions made by corporations, and how these decisions affect your work. You will develop a market-oriented framework for analysing a corporation’s investment decisions and understand how these decisions impact your business.
Financial and Management Accounting
September-January
This module will take you beyond the numbers and teach you how a company’s financial reporting can help you understand a company’s health and story.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
September-January
This module provides you with a unique opportunity to build your knowledge, skills, and experience in starting up an innovative business, looking for critical funding, and structuring a deal to make your business viable. You will learn how to identify approaches to overcoming innovation problems, how to understand customer need and value proposal, evaluate commercial potential, tactics for securing buy-in, and best practices for scaling your business.
Managerial Economics
September-January
Whatever industry you’re in, in order to ensure your business stays buoyant in a competitive market, you need to understand how individual markets operate, and how to use economic tools to analyse your position. By the end of this module, you will know how to apply basic principles of economics to real-world questions, such as how markets do or do not work and the choice of pricing by firms.
Marketing
September-January
In this module, you will develop a general management viewpoint in planning and evaluating marketing decisions, from strategic and tactical perspectives. It will help you understand how marketing decisions contribute to business performance and how such decisions are affected by organisational and environmental influences.
Organisational Behaviour
September-January
This module will give you a practical yet theoretically-grounded collection of tools you can use to be an effective leader and manager of people. You will understand how to manage yourself and your own career, how to lead and motivate others, and how to work well and effectively in teams to deliver good results.
Strategy
September-January
Through the Strategy module, you will examine issues such as defining the firm’s purpose, understanding its competitors, and how to gain an edge (and keep it) over time. You will examine business-level and corporate strategy topics and develop your ability to think beyond day-to-day business activities.
Personalise your MBA and deep dive into a specialist area with flexcore modules. You will take two or more flexcore modules, depending on your choice of electives.
Data Analytics and Visualisation for Business
February-March
This module covers a number of tools on an advanced level for data manipulation and visualisation, including Excel, Google Sheets/Query, Power BI and Tableau, with an emphasis on how to ask insightful business questions and analyse data interactively.
While studying these tools, you will take a managerial perspective and develop a statistical thinking when analysing the data. Discussion will be complemented by real data sets from IT, supply chain, retail, finance, and other relevant industries.
Design Thinking: Solving Complex Problems Through a Disruptive Mindset
February-March
Design Thinking represents a powerful way to unleash the creative potential of managers and leaders in organisations and is rapidly becoming a new management paradigm for value creation. Through this module you will develop the ability to gain deep insights about users, to define and reframe problems, and to effectively generate solutions or alternative approaches. You will learn how to clearly articulate ideas and concepts visually as well as verbally, and a mindset that embraces uncertainty and seeks new opportunities by exploration and experimentation.
Corporate Finance II
February-March
Some say risk is an inevitable part of investing. Risky investments can bring big rewards, but these risks can, and should, be managed. To prevent loss, you need to understand the main financial securities and markets and how to develop efficient investment strategies. To complement your studies in the classroom, you will have access the Connect learning platform’s state-of-the-art technology, which includes a fully interactive book with online exercises and assignments.
Macroeconomics
February-March
This module analyses the macroeconomic backdrop against which businesses and government operate. You will analyse how the decisions of firms and consumers interact to generate the aggregate outcomes that macroeconomists focus on: total output (GDP), employment, inflation and the balance of payments. The module will examine the 2008 financial crisis and the ways in which it has affected economies and prompted responses of governments and central banks. And looking to a current and very local issue, you will also explore the economics of Brexit right in the city where the decisions are being made.
Operations
February-March
A firm can create competitive advantage through efficient and effective management of its operations. This module covers key concepts of operations management including the analysis of process flows and bottlenecks, capacity planning, inventory and supply chain management and quality management. You will understand how to apply these ideas to achieve operational excellence and total quality.
We offer more than 40 elective modules, including on-campus and online options. Most can be taken by any of the 400 students enrolling annually on one of our MBA programmes, giving you the opportunity to expand your network within the wider MBA community. You will choose six electives in total. Please note, elective options are subject to change.
Analytics and Marketing
April-August
Advanced Financial and Sustainability Reporting
Analytics Project
Big Data, AI and Machine Learning
Brand Management
Consumer Behaviour
Digital Marketing
Technologies in Marketing
Marketing Analytics: Leading with Big Data
Pricing Strategy
Project Management
Sales Management and Leadership (IB Glocal Elective)
Sustainable Marketing & Consumption
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
April-August
AI Ventures
Digital Business Model Design
Entrepreneurial Journey
Leading Social Innovation
Mastering Foundational Entrepreneurial Skills
Responsible Digital Innovation: Ethics at Work
Wicked Problems, Systems Dynamics, and Entrepreneurial Innovation
Finance
April-August
Asset Management and Alternative Investments
Cases in Corporate Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions
Corporate Governance and Stewardship
Corporate Law and Tax Strategy
Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital
Finance in Cleantech
Finance for Net Zero
Financial Project
Insurance
Pricing Strategy
Private Equity
Sustainable Finance and Investments
The Fintech Revolution: New Markets, Models and Opportunities
Our optional concentrations allow you to develop expertise in one area of interest and craft the MBA according to your career goals. Depending on your chosen career path or company, a concentration could give you an edge in a competitive job market.
Analytics
Lead: Dr. Gah-Yi Ban
Discover the latest thinking and techniques in the field of business analytics from coding to data analysis. As organisations possess and collect more and more data, it has become increasingly important for executives to be literate in state-of-the-art techniques for data collection, analysis and visualisation.
Digital Strategy and Transformation
Lead: Prof. Chris Tucci
This concentration is designed for those seeking roles in technology companies as well as any organisations engaged in digital transformation of their products, services, and processes. Elective options range from AI ventures and digital business model design and digital transformation.
Entrepreneurship
Lead: Prof. Markus Perkmann
This concentration is designed for those who want to innovate and launch products from within existing corporations, found their own ventures or join a high-growth firm. Your elective options include design thinking, entrepreneurial finance and completing a start-up project as part of the Entrepreneurial Journey module.
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) and stakeholder impact
Lead: Prof Eduardo Andrade
This concentration offers a deep dive into the mindset, knowledge, and skills for leading and transforming organisations towards greater sustainability and stakeholder impact. You may take this concentration if you are aiming for one of the growing number of specialist roles that corporations, consultancies, NGOs and governments offer in this area.
Electives include sustainable strategy, ESG-related finance, sustainable and social innovation, sustainable consumption, and energy business.
Finance
Lead: Prof. Andrea Buraschi
If you are looking to work in financial services, corporate finance or fintech, take the finance concentration. Electives include asset management, private equity, entrepreneurial finance, sustainable/ESG finance and fintech, among others.
As a UK MBA student, you can experience life in London, one of the most desirable cities in the world, while enjoying opportunities to travel internationally to immerse yourself in new business environments. Learn about yourself, new cultures and gain an understanding of how businesses operate around the world.
Global Experience Week
Summer, compulsory
Taking place over the summer term, Global Experience Week is an unforgettable opportunity that MBA students look forward to each year. You’ll learn about the challenges faced by local organisations, and how a country’s business environment affects the way they operate.
Past Global Experience Week destinations have included the Nordics, Brazil and Kenya, where students explored how businesses can be transformed to tackle climate action.
Locations are subject to change and specific dates and destinations for your cohort will be announced during the Autumn term.
As this is a compulsory element of your programme, the cost of this trip is included in your tuition fees.
IB Glocal Electives
Summer, optional
The IB Glocal Electives teach students how to explore contemporary global business problems with a local perspective. You will gain a deeper insight into international issues in a particular geography and will benefit from the in-market exposure and teaching the trips provide.
Led by Imperial College Business School faculty in collaboration with partners at global locations, these intensive four-day study abroad programmes give students who want to enrich their academic curriculum a stimulating experience. Previous locations have included Houston, Milan, Singapore and Tel Aviv.
Global Exchanges
Optional
The optional Global Exchanges programme allows you to increase your international exposure and build your network by taking advantage of specialised electives at one of our partner schools.
If you opt for the extended term, you will have the opportunity to undertake a term-long exchange at one of our partner schools. This would run in the Autumn term in addition to the other elements of your programme. Please note that additional fees apply
Throughout your time on the Imperial MBA, we’ll support your development as a leader by helping you to understand how your awareness of ethical, societal, and diversity issues, as well as your own leadership style, play a role in every decision you make. Leadership is an essential part of the Imperial MBA, with several components running throughout the year.
Personal Leadership Journey
Year-long, compulsory
The Personal Leadership Journey is a Careers-led module that runs throughout the programme. It is designed to give you the key skills you need as a global professional through workshops, reflective exercises and one-to-one meetings. It will also enable you to make new connections with leaders and experts from the industries that most interest you.
Working closely with your own personal careers consultant throughout the year, you’ll focus on four key areas including: Personal impact and networking, Executive communication, Managing your career, and Leading in a complex and connected world.
The world needs responsible leaders who care about the long-term health of their organisations but also society and the environment. Using a holistic approach, our LEADS module runs all year and starts with giving you the tools to discover and analyse yourself.
You will move on to consider yourself in relation to others, and finally, explore the role of leaders in making organisations sustainable.
The Imperial MBA offers many opportunities to apply what you’ve learnt in the classroom to real-life scenarios. Gain greater confidence in your abilities and put your leadership skills to the test.
Imperial Innovation Challenge
October
Through this one-week learning laboratory, you will work with Imperial College London scientists to apply innovative thinking to generate business solutions to complex international issues. In groups, you will use business model innovation to create economic disruption with positive environmental and social effects. Students typically work with a deep tech client, developing their understanding of the relationship between business and technology.
Careers Week
With tailored support and feedback, Careers Week enables you to focus on your career goals through a series of workshops and activities. Highlights of the week include: tailored career sessions, drop-ins for sector-specific career guidance, Entrepreneurs Day co-delivered by the Imperial Enterprise Lab and Imperial Hackspace, interview practice and feedback, and external one-to-ones for specific sectors. Find out more about Careers.
Global Insights Speaker Series
You have the option to attend a speaker series with industry leaders, as well as intimate seminars with Imperial College London experts from fields including climate change, AI and fintech.
Full-Time MBA Capstone
Your MBA will culminate in an unforgettable capstone experience away from campus in a natural environment to give you the space to reflect upon your learning experience. In previous years, students visited a national park in Wales with their classmates while the class of 2022/23 visited Norway.
Over the spring and summer terms, you will select one group project, choosing between the Entrepreneurial Journey, Strategic Consulting Project, Analytics Project or Finance Project. In July and August, you will also complete an individual project, with the choice of a Business Project or internship.
Entrepreneurial Journey
Min. eight weeks
The Entrepreneurial Journey is your opportunity to work an idea into a product or service and pitch your proposition to a panel of venture capitalists to compete for a monetary prize. You can connect with Imperial scientists if your idea is tech-related.
The journey is suitable for both those wanting to innovate as intrapreneurs from within an organisation or start their own ventures. You will develop a value proposition, carry out customer discovery research, validate the product or service, and create a fully-fledged business proposal. Call on the Imperial Enterprise Lab to help you connect with coaches and investors.
Strategic Consulting Project
March-June
The Strategic Consulting Project (SCP) module provides you the opportunity to work on a real-world business problem for a real client in a team setting. This will allow you to apply the knowledge you gained in the Business Problem Solving module, your other core modules (depending on the topic you are addressing), and your skill in working as part of a team which is supported by a faculty coach. Clients tend to be a mix of large and small companies with recent clients including Virgin Media, SSE, Rajasthan Royals, and Arrival.
Analytics Project
Approx. 10 weeks
Gain practical experience in developing business/data analytics applications for business with our MBA Analytics Project. Work part-time in small groups over an approximately 10-week period to complete a business-related project which contains a significant analytics component.
Financial Consulting Project
Min. eight weeks
Working either individually or in a team of two people (your choice), you will address an important, real-life problem, opportunity or challenge within a finance firm that is amenable to an approach based on data gathering and analysis. Teams will prepare a formal written proposal and communicate their results via both presentation and written report.
Business Project
The Business Project allows you to develop your ideas on a particular topic of interest. You may choose from the following three options:
Complete a research project with an organisation of interest.
Complete a consulting report covering a sector or market and one or more organisations.
Develop your own business plan to gain more entrepreneurial experience.
Internship
Employ your networking skills to organise an internship and our Careers team will alert you to opportunities arising from our corporate connections and alumni network.
Extended Work Placement
2-6 months, Optional
If you opt for the extended term, you will have the opportunity to undertake an extended work placement. Please note that additional fees apply.
Our Full-Time MBA
Admissions
Applications for 2025 entry are open.
Discover our admissions process for the Full-Time MBA including entry requirements, how to apply and key dates and deadlines.
We operate a staged admissions process with several deadlines throughout the year. This programme is highly competitive, so early application is advised; this will put you in a stronger position to be considered for a scholarship, and provide access to exclusive admitted students events.
Choosing to pursue an MBA is one of the most important decisions you will make and is a substantial investment in yourself.
Many of our students fund their studies through multiple funding sources. We offer a wide range of awards, including a number of full scholarships to the most talented applicants. We’ve also provided information about the different financing options available to you.
“As someone with a strategic mindset, I was looking for an MBA programme and university that complements my commitment to technology and innovation. So far that has also been the best part of the MBA. The Business School provides a lot of ways to connect with like-minded people driven by passion on various topics of interest through university-wide electives, events, and networking sessions.”
Imperial College Business School Careers provide world-class support that is tailored to your own individual career aspirations and is an integral part of our MBA programmes. A number of personalised services are provided before you start your programme, throughout your time at the Business School, and after you graduate, to support you both in securing a job in the sector of your choice and with ongoing career success.
Employment outcomes below refer to the class of 2023.
“The Careers team has been great! The Personal Leadership Journey provides a guide to help develop our skills and so far has touched on everything from job hunting to networking to professional presentation skills. I have been very lucky to have a great career consultant who helps keep me on track and working on my career goals.”
Our faculty are thought leaders in the field of business. They combine theoretical knowledge from their cutting-edge research with the latest practical insights from their extensive work with industry and government. All MBA faculty members are doctorate degree holders, many of whom have extensive industry experience at leading companies such as Accenture, BT, Bank of England, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), McKinsey, and UBS.
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James Barlow
Chair in Technology and Innovation Management - Academic Director, MBA Suite
To be eligible to apply for the programme, you would normally require:
Three years’ relevant postgraduate work experience; in exceptional circumstances, we will consider candidates with less than three years’ experience who can demonstrate strong academic performance, excellent career progression and international work experience.
You will need at least a UK Second Class Honours or international equivalent or an acceptable professional qualification
English language test results (if applicable).
More information about entry requirements can be found here.
We've provided general guidance in the country and region index on how qualifications awarded by public institutions overseas may satisfy our minimum academic admission requirements.
We review our requirements annually. Updates usually happen in September each year before the next academic year of entry.
If your country or region is not listed, please contact the relevant Admissions team for further information.
All applications to our postgraduate programmes are made online – we do not accept paper applications.
Please refer to the how to apply section of our Admissions page to see which documents you are required to submit with your application.
We have a series of admissions rounds throughout the year, with decisions typically released four weeks after each application deadline. Full details of application and decision deadlines are available here.
Please email the Imperial MBA Admissions team if you would like to request feedback on your application. Please note that whilst limited feedback can be provided, the decision of the academic selectors is final and it will not be possible for your application to be reconsidered.
You are required to have a valid GMAT or GRE score as part of your application for the Full-Time MBA.
For the GMAT Exam you will need a minimum overall percentile ranking of 55%. If you have taken the GMAT Exam (10th Edition), you will need a score of at least 600 (our current average is 666). Scores are valid for five years from your appointment date.
If you are taking the GRE, we recommend a minimum score of 156 in the verbal, and 158 in the quantitative sections.
You are required to have a valid GMAT or GRE score as part of your application for the Imperial MBA.
If you have applied for and been granted a waiver, then you may submit your application without a GMAT or GRE score. If you do not hold a waiver, you are required to submit a valid GMAT or GRE score as part of your application.
Your application will not be complete until this is received, and therefore will not be processed by our Admissions Team and may be withdrawn.
To submit a GMAT score, you must request for it to be shared with Imperial College Business School online using the code S22-7S-16. Please note that you do not need to send a hard copy unless requested.
To submit a GRE score, you must request for it to be shared with Imperial College Business School online using the code 0121.
GMAT Exam scores will remain valid for five years from your appointment date.
For each module, you will be expected to complete approximately 12-20 hours of class time plus three additional hours for every one hour in the classroom.
Our programmes are intensive periods of study. Contact hours form only part of the activity that you will be asked to undertake. You will be required to devote time to preparing for lectures, undertaking background reading, working in groups, completing assessments (both individual and in groups), revising for exams etc.
A significant amount of time will also need to be allocated to career planning and development as well as becoming an active contributor to the Business School community. This is not an exhaustive list but provides you with a flavour of what you can expect from your time as a student at Imperial College Business School.
For information on the fee and deposit amount, please visit the Admissionspage.
You can pay your tuition fees in one instalment at the start of term or, if you are self-funding, in two instalments, at the start of term and February.
If you pay in two instalments, a 2% surcharge of the total amount will be added to your first instalment. You will be asked to select a payment schedule during the offer acceptance process.
Please contact the Tuition Fee team if you have any further questions.
There are a number of scholarships available to MBA candidates. To be considered for an award, you must have submitted your MBA application by the deadline(s) listed on the Fees and funding page. Please be aware that you do not need to submit a separate scholarship application to be considered for an award; all applications received by the stated deadline will be considered provided they meet the eligibility criteria.
Scholarship decisions will be made in conjunction with MBA application deadlines which can be found here.
Please contact the Tuition Fees team with any queries you have regarding the Careers and Professional Development Loan.
Please contact the Tuition Fees team with any queries regarding your deposit or tuition fee invoice.
If you are being sponsored by an organisation that will be responsible for paying your tuition fees, you must provide acceptable proof of the award.
Satisfactory evidence of sponsorship is usually regarded as an original, dated and duly authorised letter from your sponsor on headed paper which includes the following:
Your name and College Identifier Number
The programme for which you have been offered a place
The amount of fees which will be paid by your sponsor (please report in GBP)
The address to which the invoice should be sent
Any Purchase Order Number required
Confirmation that the fees will be sent directly to Imperial College
We will start to issue CAS from April. The details of your CAS will appear on your My Imperial record after you’ve met all the conditions of your offer. Please note that you will need to upload a scanned copy of the photo page of your passport and current visa (if you have recently completed a degree in the UK), before your CAS can be issued. Please upload these documents to the ‘passport/visa’ section of your My Imperial account.
Once your CAS is ready, you will receive an email confirming that it has been uploaded onto your My Imperial account. If you log into My Imperial you will be able to find your CAS number and the details that have been included in your CAS.
Please note that we cannot provide you with a CAS if you have outstanding conditions on your offer. Please ensure that you allow enough time to meet your conditions and apply for a visa before the start date of your programme of study.
Your CAS number holds information about the programme you will study and if you have paid any fees. You will not need a formal letter from the College confirming your offer status for your visa appointment.
For more information about what you will need, see the UKVI website.
The Business School holds online information sessions throughout the year to give you the opportunity to learn more about the programmes from the Programme Director, current students and alumni.
Please refer to the Meet us page to find out when the next event is being held for the Imperial MBA.
The Business School is located on the South Kensington campus of Imperial College London. Please refer to the location page for our address and guidance on how to get here.
Features
Reflecting on the Imperial Innovation Challenge with our Full-Time MBA students
We recently caught up with George Dear, Bogosi Shashane and Sophie Anzarouth, winners of the Imperial Innovation Challenge 2024, who give us an insight into the week and how deepened their understanding of the business-technology relationship.
The MBA application events roadmap with Imperial College Business School
In this blog, we outline an events roadmap, covering the numerous touchpoints on your journey to completing an application for an MBA programme at Imperial College Business School.
