International School of Management GmbH (ISM) is a German business school headquartered in Dortmund. It is a private university with state recognition.

The International School of Management (ISM) is a private, state-recognized University of Applied Sciences that has been offering career focused management education programs with an international orientation.^[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. The company shares were taken over in 1998 by ESO Education Group.^[2][3]

In 2006, in accordance with the Bologna Process, ISM switched the Diploma courses to Bachelor and Master courses .

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.^[2][3]

In June 2004, ISM gained accreditation from the German Council of Science and Humanities for a period of ten years; this was renewed for a further 10 years in 2015.^[3]

The university first received accreditation from the FIBAA for its MBA program in 2003. Since then all ISM study programs have received FIBBA accreditation.^[3]

In the 2023 CHE University Ranking, ISM ranked highest in the fields for Support at the beginning of the studies, graduation in due course and work experience.^[5]

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

In the 2019 Wirtschaftswoche Ranking, for Business administration, ISM came 4th in private universities and 14th overall.^[7][8]

As of 3 September 2019, ISM is partnered with 188 universities across 43 different countries.^[9]