SINGAPORE — Some former students of the Singapore branch of New York University’s (NYU) famed Tisch School of the Arts have defended the quality of education of their now-defunct alma mater, after three graduates filed a lawsuit against NYU, claiming that the education provided here was not comparable to that of the programme in New York.

Ms Anna Basso, Ms Amy Hartman and Mr Jaime Villa Ruiz — who had spent at least US$100,000 (S$137,000) each in tuition fees — filed a class-action lawsuit in a district court in New York last month.

In their lawsuit, they allege, among other things, that many faculty members at Tisch Asia had “subpar experience”, including a professor who did not know how to use a modern camera in a cinematography class; and that students did not have an opportunity to gain the same grants and fellowships as their New York counterparts.

Tisch Asia — which opened in 2007 and offered degrees in animation and digital arts, dramatic writing and film — closed last year because of financial problems.

Film-maker Wee Li Lin, 42, who pursued her Masters in Dramatic Writing at the Singapore campus at Kay Siang Road from 2009 to 2011, described her experience there as representing the “complete opposite end of the spectrum”.

With renowned industry names — such as Singaporean playwright Haresh Sharma as a visiting teacher, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director Oliver Stone reading and critiquing her thesis script — Ms Wee said it was an experience she “would never forget”.

The programme at Tisch Asia not only helped her grow as writer personally, but also allowed her to share the knowledge she had gained with her students, said Ms Wee, who is now an adjunct lecturer at the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University.

Another Tisch Asia alumnus, who declined to be named, said she had a “great experience” with her teachers, whom she found to be “generous, knowledgeable and kind”.

The woman noted that many of her American classmates took out student loans and were still paying their debts years after graduation.

She said: “After big sacrifices, and after the trouble of moving halfway around the world for graduate school, they may have brought different expectations to Singapore. Now, they are applying for jobs, and the school on their CVs no longer exists. It has been a very fraught and disappointing time for them.”

In an email reply to TODAY, NYU spokesman John Beckman said students at Tisch Asia had the same curriculum as its New York campus, and had “highly qualified faculty”, and “excellent” facilities and equipment.

“It was a robust, graduate-level programme in the arts, and artistically the school was a success, with a number of students winning prestigious student film awards ... This suit is wholly without merit, and we expect to prevail in court,” he added.

Meanwhile, in response to TODAY’s queries about the loans that the Economic Development Board (EDB) had granted to Tisch Asia, the EDB reiterated its earlier statement that it had come to an agreement with NYU regarding their settlement.

Those loans had originated as part of the agreement between the two parties in 2007. “Since then, we have been able to resolve all outstanding issues amicably,” said the EDB. Toh Ee Ming