Pearl Academy (previously Pearl Academy of Fashion) is a higher education institution in India. Global University Systems, a for-profit education company, owns it as of 2019.
As of January 2021, the institution has campuses in four cities across India, including Mumbai, Jaipur, and Bangalore, as well as two in New Delhi (south and west).
The House of Pearl Fashion's education arm, Little People Education Society, founded the Pearl Academy of Fashion in 1993. Pearl began offering degrees validated by the United Kingdom's Nottingham Trent University in 1995.
The University Grants Commission (India) ordered Pearl Academy to stop awarding joint degrees with Nottingham Trent University in July 2012, citing "mounting complaints against private institutes."
Concerns were raised in 2015 about the validity of the institution's programmes after an alumna reported that the Association of Indian Universities had "refused to recognise her degree from Pearl Academy."
Pearl joined the Laureate International Universities network, which is based in the United States, in 2011.
In July 2019, Laureate sold Pearl Academy to the Netherlands-based private education company Global University Systems as part of a 2,500 crore deal for Laureate's Indian business, which also included the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies.
Global University Systems has collaborated with Pearl Academy and UPES through a subsidiary company in India, GUS Global Services, since the acquisition.
