Great Lakes Institute of Management

History

Great Lakes was set up in 2004 by Bala Balachandran, J.L. Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Information Management at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA.

Following the establishment of Indian School of Business (ISB), Balachandran wanted to establish a business school in his home state of Tamil Nadu, and set up the Great Lakes Institute of Management in the capital city of Chennai with a model similar to the ISB involving a one year MBA programme, global visiting faculty and international academic collaborations.

The first intake was for 127 students for its one-year programme and classes were held in a small rented building in Saidapet, a residential neighbourhood in Chennai city. Great Lakes developed a new greenfield campus at Manamai village near Mahabalipuram, a UNESCO Heritage Site 50 km south of Chennai, and shifted to this campus in 2009.

The first programme offered was a one-year full time programme called the Post-Graduate Program in Management (PGPM). At that point, few Indian Schools offered a one-year MBA programme since almost all leading business schools including the prestigious Indian Institute of Management traditionally offered a two-year programme.

The regulatory body for technical and management education in India, AICTE, also did not have a provision for approving one-year programmes. However, Great Lakes received approval for its PGPM from AICTE, the first instance of an approval for a one-year programme in the country. While the two-year programmes were categorized as a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management, the one-year programme was categorized as a Post-Graduate Certificate in Management.

Since 2012, Great Lakes has also started offering the traditional two-year PGDM programme.

Accreditation

Great Lakes is accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), UK, one of the three main global accreditation bodies in business education. Great Lakes is the youngest and 7th institute in India to get accreditation from the association. (See List of Institutions Accredited by AMBA).

Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai is accredited by SAQS (South Asian Quality Assurance System). It is a globally benchmarked system for Mentoring, Quality Improvement, Quality Assurance and Accreditation. SAQS accreditation is awarded by The Association of Management Development Institutions in South Asia (AMDISA), an international not-for-profit association, and is a “ SAARC Recognised Body”.

Great Lakes’ PGPM and PGDM full time programmes are approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), a statutory body for technical education, under Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India.

Campuses

Great Lakes has two campuses, one on the outskirts of Chennai and one in Gurgaon, Delhi NCR.

Chennai Campus

Great Lakes’ Chennai campus is a LEED Platinum Rated Green Campus (See List of LEED Rated Green Buildings in India). It is located on the outskirts of Chennai, near the historic city of Mahabalipuram. The Great Lakes Campus is comparable is the best in the world in terms of infrastructure, aesthetics and more importantly an example of sustainable use of resources. Set on the scenic ECR road which runs from Chennai to Pondicherry and just 9 km from UNESCO heritage site Mahabalipuram, the campus provides a serene and tranquil environment with ideal setting for pursuing extremely rigorous and intellectually challenging programs.

Ultra modern resource centre full of world class literature and electronic databases.

Fully air-conditioned residential accommodation for bachelors as well as married couples managed by one of the world's leading facilities management company.

Ample recreational opportunities inside and outside campus including the beautiful beaches of Mahabalipuram at a stones throw.

The Resource Centre boasts of an unparalleled collection of books, top management journals, magazines, course materials, project reports, annual reports, news papers, case studies and articles. It also provides access to various research databases like EBSCO, ISI Emerging markets, Proquest, CMIE, Indiastat.com that enable the students in their research activities. In addition, the resource centre also has AV resources with collection of the most interesting videos in management.

The Resource Centre currently subscribes to over 65 periodical titles. About 35 titles are accessible online by Resource Centre & about 9000 titles are accessible online through Resource Centre's database subscription. The total size of the Resource Centre exceeds 5000 books and more than 1000 AV resources.

Using OPAC, users can search the RC Online Catalogue by Author, Title, Subject, and keywords. In addition, the users can know the latest additions of periodicals and books and the status of a document (whether on shelf or on issue). Reservation of a book can be done Online as well.

Great Lakes has excellent sports and recreation facilities on campus, with dedicated facilities for Gym, yoga, table tennis, basketball, badminton and volleyball etc. Sports centre houses required equipments for all sports including cricket. Indoor sports facilities include carom, chess and Foosball. Gym is equipped with latest fitness equipments such as treadmills, exercise bikes, Multi stations, slant board, stability ball and free weights.

Great Lakes is situated 65 km from Chennai Central Station. On the ECR road from Chennai to Pondicherry, Great Lakes is 9 km after Mahabalipuram, in Manamai village on the right hand side of the road.

Delhi NCR Campus

A Delhi NCR campus was launched in 2011 in strategic partnership with Educomp. It is located in the business district of Gurgaon and offers two-year PGPM Energy and one-year PGPM courses for full-time students.