UNSW closure not a breach of Consumer Protection Fair Trading Act:
CASE
By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 01 June 2007 1930 hrs
SINGAPORE : When the University of New South Wales (UNSW) closed
its campus in Singapore last month, it did not breach the Consumer
Protection Fair Trading Act.
This is according to the President of the Consumers Association of
Singapore (CASE) Yeo Guat Kwang.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a forum on
Friday.
Many of the students from the UNSW Asia campus were left in a lurch
when the university announced it was closing its operations in
Singapore.
Some are considering the scholarship offered by the university to
help them continue their studies.
So far, none of the affected UNSW students has approached CASE for
help.
Mr Yeo said the university's redress package offered to the
students was reasonable.
He added that right now, the authorities were handling the matter
and students could also turn to adequate resources for help.
So Mr Yeo felt it was not necessary for CASE to step in at this
point.
He said, "On the winding up case, I think it's different because I
think they didn't make any misrepresentations or (tried) to mislead
the students in a sense. I think in a sense, at the end of the day,
as it starts to roll out their plans for the students, they found
that it may not be viable for them to continue. But it's a good
thing that at least now they offer the students a choice to
actually go over to Australia to complete their studies. "
Meanwhile foreign students studying at private institutions in
Singapore have said the UNSW closure has set them thinking.
A student from China, Liu Lei, said, "At first I was not affected,
as I trusted my school. After that incident, I became a little
worried. I was worried that if the school closed down, I would not
know where to go for help."
He added, "(But) I am not (too) worried yet. I believe that the
school deserves our trust."
And trust in the reputation of Singapore as an education hub has
not been broken by the UNSW closure, according to an association
which advises foreign students and private education organisations
here.
Daniel Chu, President, Association of Consultants for International
Students (Singapore), said, "It may cause the investors who may
want to invest in Singapore for private education to understand the
market a bit more, before they pump in millions of dollars.
"(The) Singapore brand name has been established internationally.
(The) Singapore brand name is still good. This small incident will
not affect students who want to come here, they'll still
come."
To make sure they continue to come, Mr Chu's association, which has
some 40 members, is also planning to step up professionalism in the
education industry, through accreditation and training. -
CNA/ms
Actually, this highlights another issue about this regime being
the safe haven it claims to be. For all the safety of the low crime
rates (well, God knows how many unsolved and unreported crime
incidents there are), it's easy to forget this regime is so safe
there's hardly any avenue (afterall, going to CASE for the
abovementioned is not much different from expecting NTUC to
safeguard the rights of the workers) for one to turn to if one had
been shortchanged in a manner by a source whose interests remotely
represent that of the fascists.
Pretty curious how such a brand of "safety" that is so uniquely Singapore isn't
scrutinised enough... 
