SINGAPORE, Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Management
Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS), one of Singapore's top
private education providers and oldest not-for-profit professional
institute, has filed a legal suit in the High Court of Singapore
(Writ of Summons: S158/2011/B) against Edith Cowan University
(ECU), Mr. Kerry Owen Cox, Vice Chancellor and President of ECU and
Mr. Gensheng Shen, Dean of ECU International.
In the legal suit filed on 9 March
2011, MDIS is seeking damages for a number of claims which include
the breach of the Education Agreement which was originally signed
with ECU on March 12, 1999 and replaced with a new agreement on 9
November 2005; damages caused to MDIS as a result of several
defamatory remarks made by ECU and the other defendants as well as
compensation for all the losses MDIS has suffered as a result of
all the defamatory remarks made and attempts made by ECU to
encourage its students to leave MDIS to take up ECU courses with
another private educational institution in Singapore.
In its affidavit, MDIS highlighted
that ECU had not met its obligations for an acceptable teach-out
agreement to be implemented within a reasonable time frame
following the non-renewal of its Education Agreement with MDIS.
Instead, ECU had intentionally caused losses to MDIS by attempting
to encourage students to switch to another competitor - Singapore
Manufacturers Association Institution of Higher Learning (SMa) to
continue their ECU courses. The sudden decision by ECU not to renew
its agreement with MDIS had caused confusion among the students who
had enrolled into the ECU courses. The unexpected turn had
disrupted their study plans as well.
In addition, ECU had made many
defamatory remarks against MDIS by sending emails on its views of
MDIS to students, Singapore's Council for Private Education (CPE)
and the Australian Universities Quality Agency. These remarks had
cast aspersions on MDIS and its leadership and hurt the strong
reputation of MDIS.
The pre-trial conference for the
legal suit was held on June 28, 2011 and the next court hearing is
scheduled sometime this month.
Media Enquires and Contacts On
behalf of MDIS:
Tham Moon Yee
Stratagem Consultants Pte Ltd
Email: [email protected]
Lee Yew Meng
Stratagem Consultants Pte Ltd
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +65-6227-0502
Fax: +65-6227-5663
SOURCE Management Development
Institute of Singapore (MDIS)