Just six years after it was created, the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance at Shanghai Jiao Tong University has earned the accreditation of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International.

Founded in 1916, the business association is the oldest and one of the most prestigious global accrediting bodies for business schools. Less than 5 percent of the world's business schools have earned its recognition.

Robert D. Reid, the association's executive vice president and chief accreditation officer, congratulated the institute's director, Jiang Wang, for successfully completing the multiyear accreditation process.

"During this peer-review process, SAIF confirmed alignment with 15 global accreditation standards, while demonstrating how they achieve success within each of the three pillars on which AACSB accreditation rests — engagement, innovation and impact," Reid said in announcing the accreditation last week.

SAIF was built in 2009 by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government to achieve its goal of becoming a global finance hub and to satisfy the urgent developing needs of the city and country's financial industry.