A few days before the holiday season began in earnest, I made a trip to Geneva to visit the Geneva School of Diplomacy (GSD), an institution just starting on the path to NECHE accreditation. What a charming time of year to visit!
The Geneva School of Diplomacy was founded in 2003 by one career diplomat with a passion for international relations, and one expert in finance. It began with just 11 students and today is proud to claim more than 750 graduates — with earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees — in a steadily growing alumni community. GSD’s honorary doctorate recipients include seven Presidents or Prime Ministers, five Ministers, and one Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Alums currently serve as more than fifteen ambassadors to the United Nations and other countries, as diplomats and politicians, corporate executives and entrepreneurs — all bringing and influential and informed global perspective to the international arena.
Hard to imagine a more important mission today!
It makes perfect sense that GSD is located in beautiful Geneva, the city known as the Peace Capital, a global hub of diplomacy, and the headquarters of humanitarian organizations as prominent as the United Nations and International Red Cross. GSD students effortlessly encounter a vibrant network of diplomatic professionals while earning their degree…the top reason they choose GSD, along with the small classes and high quality of faculty, virtually all of whom have had extensive diplomatic experience.
In 2024, GSD’s founding directors made the momentous decision to entrust the school’s future to two alumni: Hassaan Joosub and Rakesh Krishnan. These accomplished and ambitious young men, along with a dedicated and eager staff, have committed themselves to a new vision for GSD. That vision includes expanding the curriculum and degrees offered, increasing the student body, and creating a vibrant community hub — in addition to becoming accredited by NECHE.
NECHE has worked with many institutions in transition from their founding leaders, and is fully cognizant of the inherent challenges. GSD is no exception to those challenges — one critical difference being that GSD’s new leaders (and owners) are insiders. And closely bonded.
Rakesh held an operational leadership position at GSD for five years before becoming CEO. Hassaan had established a career in the financial services industry after graduating from GSD, and met Rakesh when he became a close classmate of Hassaan’s mother as she was pursuing a long-held dream, earning her doctorate from GSD later in life. Last year, when Rakesh began to consider the opportunity to acquire GSD (knowing there were other interested parties), he reached out to Hassaan. As it turned out, Hassaan’s beloved mother had just passed away, and the coalescing circumstances convinced him that this new venture and vision for GSD– which had been such an important part of Hassaan’s and his mother’s life– was meant to be.
I believe that knowing how the GSD partnership was ignited and inspired is an important part of understanding the promising future of the Geneva School of Diplomacy. Rakesh and Hassaan’s candor in sharing their story was quite moving. And frankly, it’s why I treasure these visits with schools new to NECHE.
Accreditation may seem only a matter of numbers and data, but it’s also a deeply personal journey.