Great Lakes, Chennai, gets AACSB Accreditation-Achieves Double Crown

November 17’ 2023; Chennai:  Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, has gained the prestigious AACSB accreditation, considered among the world’s leading accreditations for Business Schools. Founded in 1916, AACSB is the longest-serving global accrediting body for business schools and is the world’s largest business education alliance, connecting educators, learners, and businesses. The AACSB accreditation places Great Lakes in an elite league of leading educational institutions globally and recognizes its commitment to academic excellence, innovative pedagogy, industry-relevant curriculum and research.

In addition to AACSB, and Great Lakes, Chennai, already has AMBA (UK), NBA and SAQS accreditations.  With this milestone, Great Lakes joins a select group of 10 top B-schools in India to have a ‘Double Crown’ of global accreditations. A business school is said to have a Double Crown status if it has secured any two out of the three International Accreditations namely AACSB, AMBA, and EQUIS.

Commenting of receiving the accreditation, Prof. Suresh Ramanathan, Dean, of Great Lakes Institute of Management, said “The AACSB accreditation is a recognition of the high standards that we have set over the years in delivering rigorous, innovative and industry-relevant content in the classroom and preparing world-class future-ready business talent. The AACSB accreditation further reinforces our commitment to achieving world-class standards of scholarship and pedagogy with the aim of having a lasting impact on business as well as society.” 

Mr. Mohan Lakhamraju, Chairman, of Great Lakes, while congratulating and thanking all stakeholders said “The AACSB accreditation is a further testament to our commitment of offering global quality education in India and further re-affirms our motto of ‘Global Mindset-Indian Roots. It is the result of continuous efforts of our fantastic team as well as constant support from our industry partners, students and alumni.”   

Prof. Vishwanathan Iyer, Director of Accreditations at Great Lakes said that “the rigorous AACSB accreditation process and inputs from Deans around the world who are part of the peer assessment will further help us in following global best practices.”  

This accolade also marks a milestone in the institution’s legacy as it completes two decades as one of the top B-schools in India. The institution looks forward to continuing its journey of shaping global business leaders and making a lasting impact on the world.

About Great Lakes:

Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai founded in 2004 by Padma Shri Awardee Dr. Bala V Balachandran is among the premier B-schools in India. Great Lakes has, within a short span of 17 years, emerged as a top-ranked business school. Great Lakes has 50+ full-time faculty and 150+ visiting faculty including over 25+ international faculty from top global schools like Yale, Kellogg, Stanford, and Harvard. Further collaborations with the world’s leading institutions like Cornell University, University of Bordeaux, Skema Business School, Chicago Booth etc., have helped Great Lakes in globally benchmarking its programs. 

Great Lakes, Chennai, was accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), UK in 2014 and became the youngest B-school in India to receive this prestigious international accreditation. In 2015, Great Lakes, Chennai also received international SAQS accreditation and in 2017, its two-year PGDM program was accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA). With the AACSB accreditation in 2023, it became one of the very few select schools in India to have a global ‘Double Crown’ of Accreditations. 

Led by exceptional academic faculty, steered by an outstanding advisory council, and buoyed by international collaborations, Great Lakes has been constantly innovating to stay ahead of the needs of our businesses and community.