The Department of Industrial Administration at the BirminghamCentral Technical College enrolled its first students in 1947, with a remit to "consolidate and extend teaching work in industrial administration". David Hall Bramley was the first Head of the Department, and is recognised for his pioneering work in Industrial Management Education at the University. Aston received its charter in 1966, and in October 1972 the Management Centre was set up, merging the Department of Industrial Admninistration and the Graduate Centre for Management Studies and offering undergraduate, postgraduate, research and post-experience courses. 1978 saw the opening of the Nelson Building, purpose-built for the Management Centre. Its first MBAs were awarded in 1979. The Centre became the Aston Business School in 1988. The MSc in International Business offered for the first time in 1997, and the BSc in International Business and Management in 2005. A £22m extension to the Nelson Building opened in 2006, now the main Business School building.
Programmes
Aston Business School offers a range of first degrees including single honours programmes covering the main business and management disciplines, and a choice of joint honours programmes. It also offers a qualifying law degree and business foundation degree programmes. A distinctive feature of their first degrees is the business placement year which gives students valuable workplace experience. At postgraduate level, the Aston MBA is offered through full-time, part-time and online learning, together with a wide range of taught MSc courses and a postgraduate commercial law degree. These also include business and industry placements. Their research degrees programme includes the DBA, PhD/MPhil in Management and MSc in Management Research. The Centre for Executive Development provides bespoke and accredited development programmes for senior managers and businesses around the world.
Teaching Quality Assessment - maximum 24 out of 24 Research Assessment Exercise - research is of ‘international importance’ with a rating of 5, just short of the maximum score. Aston was ranked among the top 10 UK universities for producing millionaires according to research reported in The Daily Telegraph In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise Aston Business School was 9th in the UK for research excellence. 15% of research submitted was world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour; further 45% internationally excellent. Overall 95% of Aston Business School research was internationally significant with 95% of academic staff in the School submitted for assessment, including many early career researchers. Aston is 2nd in the UK for developing marketing professionals and 7th in the UK for finance professionals, based on the career outcome data of more than 313+ million LinkedIn members. The University was also 23 rd in the UK for accounting professionals. According to the Complete University Guide 2016, Aston is ranked 6th for marketing, 22nd for accounting and finance, 22nd for economics and 23rd for business and management studies in the UK.
Working with business
Aston Business School works with local, national and international businesses to help them embed new strategies and practice which emerge from the school’s research findings. It does this through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, bespoke research projects, MBA Business Consultancy Projects and MSc research projects.
