History of economic thought
In 1895 the London School of Economics (LSE) was founded by Fabian Society members Sidney Webb (1859–1947), Beatrice Webb (1858–1943), and George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), joining the University of London in 1900.
Imperial College Business School
The business school can trace its earliest origins to 1955, when the Operational Research/Management Science (ORMS) course started at Imperial in the Production Engineering Section of the Mechanical Engineering Department. There were only 5 students enrolled when the programme commenced in October 1955 at 14 Prince's Gardens, with an arrangement in place for students to be able to attend one-day intensive economics and accounting courses for one or two terms at the London School of Economics. The agreement became a reciprocal one lasting until 1966. In the mid-1960s, there was even the idea of creating a joint School of Administration, Economics and Technology (between Imperial and LSE) but this was ultimately rejected in favour of a new graduate school of business being started in the capital (and another in Manchester, now known as the Alliance Manchester Business School) in line with Lord Frank's 1963 report recommendations. Imperial and LSE acted as co-sponsors in the establishment of this new school, named the London Graduate School of Business Studies and now known as the London Business School. Accordingly, the London Business School's first academic planning board included the heads of Imperial College and LSE.