Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai hosts its 11th Convocation

611 students graduated across 5 different full-time and Executive programs

6 best outgoing students and 4 academic toppers awarded with gold medals

Chennai: Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, held its annual Convocation at the CTC Convention Center, Chennai. The chief guests for the occasion Mr. Ratan N Tata, Chairman - TATA Trusts participated in the convocation interaction and Mr. Faizal E Kottikollan, Founder and Chairman, KEF Holdings, Dubai delivered the presidential address.

A total of 611 students graduated this year across five different full-time and executive programs including PGPM, PGDM, PGXPM, PGPM (Flex) and PGP-BABI. Six best outgoing students and four academic toppers from each program received Gold medals during the graduation ceremony.

Welcoming the gathering, Dr Bala V Balachandran, Founder, Dean & Chairman, Great Lakes Institute of Management, said, “It gives me great pleasure to welcome our Chief Guests to Great Lakes. I feel proud to be present here on the 11th convocation ceremony of Great Lakes in the presence of our honorable guests. I firmly believe that it is a confluence of diverse thoughts and ideas which makes an institute grow and reach even greater heights. I can say with conviction that today’s graduands stand by this very principle of diversity at Great Lakes. No doubt that these graduates are among the best in the world and have the potential to become catalysts for change. I wish each one of you a great success in your career ahead. The world is out there, awaiting for your contributions and the knowledge that you acquired at Great Lakes will definitely lead you to a positive change. Step out and make your alma mater proud.”

Interacting with graduands, Chief Guest, Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman – TATA Trusts, said, “I express my deepest and genuine congratulations to the graduating class. The purpose of this curriculum given to you at Great Lakes will be realized once you leave this place. And that is when your real learning starts. Just be yourself and be driven by the desire to make a difference.”

Delivering the presidential address, Mr. Faizal E Kottikollan, Founder and Chairman, KEF Holdings, Dubai, said,” I am privileged to be in the presence of Mr Ratan Tata, who has been my inspiration. I would like to congratulate all the students on their milestone. Today, as you graduate, I wish you all to be different and think different. Just hold on to your values as it is these values that will define you as a good human being.”

Besides academic toppers, medals and certificates were awarded to nearly 70 graduands in the following categories - Dean’s Merit List, Domain toppers, best Empirical Study and Committee contributors.

One of the highlights this year was, twenty graduating PGPM students from Great Lakes who completed their six weeks exchange program with University of Bordeaux , France in July 2015, will also be receiving their MBA (Level- M2) degree in European Business Administration and International Business from University of Bordeaux subsequently during Bordeaux University’s graduation ceremony .

About Great Lakes Institute of Management:

Great Lakes was founded in 2004 by Padma Shri Dr. Bala V. Balachandran with a vision of becoming the leading Management Institution in India providing Quality Education at an affordable cost and Human Capital for Emerging Economies.

Led by exceptional academic faculty, steered by an outstanding advisory council and buoyed by the international collaborations, Great Lakes has, within a short span of 10 years emerged as a top-ranked business school, ranked 7th among 1 year MBA program by Outlook India, 7th under Executive Programs by Business Today, 7th among private B-schools by Careers 360 and 10th among top Indian B-schools by Business India in 2014.

In 2014, Great Lakes was accredited by Association of MBAs (AMBA, UK) for its PGPM and PGXPM programs and became the youngest B-school in India to receive this prestigious international accreditation. In 2015, Great Lakes received SAQS international accreditation.

Great Lakes has 50+ full time faculty and 130+ visiting faculty including over 20 international faculty from top global schools like Yale, Kellogg, Stanford, etc. Further collaborations with world's leading institutions like Nanyang Technological University, University of Houston, University of Bordeaux, etc., have helped Great Lakes in globally benchmarking its programs. Great Lakes has a 27.5 acres LEED Platinum rated green campus in Chennai and a second campus in Delhi-NCR.