PEARL ACADEMY

Pearl Academy, originally known as Pearl Academy of Fashion, was established in 1993 by the House of Pearl Fashion's education arm, Little People Education Society. In 1995, it began offering degrees validated by the United Kingdom's Nottingham Trent University, but in July 2012 the University Grants Commission (India) instructed Pearl Academy to stop awarding these joint degrees due to complaints against private institutes. In 2015, concerns arose over the validity of its programmes after an alumna reported that the Association of Indian Universities refused to recognize her Pearl Academy degree. In 2011, Pearl became part of the US-based Laureate International Universities network. Laureate later sold Pearl Academy to the Netherlands-headquartered Global University Systems in July 2019, as part of a larger deal that also included the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies. Since then, Global University Systems has partnered with Pearl Academy through its Indian subsidiary, GUS Global Services. As of January 2021, Pearl Academy operates campuses in Mumbai, Jaipur, Bangalore, and two locations in New Delhi (south and west). Notable alumni include model Alisshaa Ohri and actress Keerthy Suresh.