The predecessor of Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), Northwestern Institute of Engineering and East China Institute of Aeronautics (Xi’an Aeronautical Institute), established the "Teaching and Research Office for Enterprise Organization and Planning" from the very beginning of its founding, offering the course "Enterprise Organization and Planning" for engineering students. After the merger of institutions in 1957, a new "Teaching and Research Office for Enterprise Organization and Planning" was established. In 1979, the "Teaching and Research Office for Enterprise Organization and Planning" evolved into the "Teaching and Research Office for Management Engineering", which was under the former "Aircraft Manufacturing Engineering Department" and offered the course "Modern Management" for undergraduate students in various engineering majors across the university. In 1982, the university began to enroll and train master's students. In 1983, it was approved to establish a master's program in "Aerospace Systems Engineering and Management Engineering" at NPU. On this basis, the Department of Management was established in 1985.

In 1984, with the approval of the former State Economic Commission and the Ministry of Aviation Industry, the China Equipment Management Training Center was established at NPU. In 1987, with the approval of the former State Education Commission, the China Equipment Management Training Center and the Department of Management took the lead in enrolling undergraduate students in the "Equipment Engineering and Management" program nationwide. Starting in 1987, the China Equipment Management Training Center and the Department of Management jointly cultivated MBA students in collaboration with Lancaster University, Keele University, and the University of Hull in the United Kingdom, making it one of the earliest Sino-foreign joint MBA programs in China. In 1990, the Department of Management and the China Equipment Management Training Center merged to form the School of Management at Northwestern Polytechnical University.