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Media Release

July 4 2006

Singapore educator - a Fellow of distinction

Andrew ChenWhen the almost 600 students attend their University of South Australia graduation awards ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia in Singapore tomorrow they will be celebrating their own success but also that of education pioneer, Andrew Chen, founder of the Asia Pacific Management Institute (APMI).

Chen will be made and Honorary Fellow of UniSA as a special acknowledgement of his enormous contribution to education on an international scale.

UniSA Vice Chancellor and President Professor Denise Bradley said Chen’s 17-year contribution as founder and leader of one of the most successful private education institutions in Asia was extraordinary.

Chen established his Management Education Centre in Singapore in 1988 to meet the needs of up and coming business leaders for education in management.

By 1989 he has made an important partnership with the University of Hull in the UK to offer the Hull MBA to local students and shortly afterward in 1992 as the re-badged Asia Pacific Management Centre he formed a partnership with UniSA launching the University’s International MBA in Singapore.

At the crest of an enormous period of growth in education services in the region, Chen launched the Asia Pacific Management Institute in Hong Kong in June that same year. Along with a geographic expansion, APMI in partnership with UniSA, increased the breadth of its degree offerings to include Doctoral and Bachelor’s programs in Business Administration. APMI and UniSA worked together to launch the first Chinese language MBA to be offered by a western university into Singapore in 1998 and Taiwan the following year.

Moving beyond business education APMI’s offerings soon included a UniSA Master of Social Science in Counselling and a UniSA Bachelor of Education.

By 2001 Chen drove an expansion into mainland China and by the next year the UniSA Chinese MBA was offered in eight cities in China.

This extraordinary success soon attracted the attention of major US education provider Kaplan who acquired APMI in 2005, retaining Chen as Chairman of the new APMI Kaplan.

Chen stepped down from this role in 2006 but his entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to lifelong learning continues to make an impact in lives of individuals and communities across the region.

Chen will be presented with his award, Fellow of the University of South Australia, by UniSA Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Denise Bradley at 7 pm, July 5 2006 at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia. His conferral speech will be delivered by UniSA Executive Director of International and Development, Dr Anna Ciccarelli and the graduation address will be delivered by UniSA Pro Vice Chancellor Division of IT, Engineering and the Environment, Professor Robin King.

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