Raffles Design Institute

Raffles Design Institute is a for-profit^[1] education group and design-centric educational institution headquartered in Singapore. It is part of Raffles Education Limited.

Raffles Design Institute Singapore
Address
111 Somerset Rd, #15-22 TripleOne Somerset 238164 Singapore
Coordinates	1°17′20″N 103°50′37″E
Information
Type	Private, for-profit
Established	1990; 35 years ago (1990)
Director	Ong Kai How
Principal	Giuseppe Spinelli
Campus size	Multiple Storey
Campus type	Urban
Colour(s)	Orange, gray
Website	raffles-college.edu.sg

History

Founded in 1990, Raffles Design Institute is one of the first private institutions in Singapore to offer a Fashion Design course.^[2] Within five years, multiple design disciplines including Interactive Media Design, Visual Communication, Product Design, Jewellery Design, Interior Design, Games Design and Animation Design were introduced.^[3] Since establishment, the group has grown to provide a full spectrum of education services through a vast network of 16 educational institute across 9 countries in Asia Pacific and Europe: Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, and the People's Republic of China.

In 2004, Raffles Design Institute received the Singapore Quality Class Award for Private Education Organizations, ensuring that all courses were registered with the appropriate bodies. In 2005, the CaseTrust for Education Award for Private Education Organizations was awarded, which is an indication of approval by The Consumer Association of Singapore Enterprise. In 2008/2009, Edupoll recognized Raffles Design Institute as one of the Top Ten Education Provider [sic] in Singapore and the Largest and Most Global Private Education Provider in Singapore.^[4]

In February 2010, Raffles Design Institute, Raffles Merchandising Institute and Raffles School of Business were re-organized as institutes of Raffles College of Higher Education (Raffles Education).^[5]

The Group, through its Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed subsidiary, Oriental University City Holdings (H.K.) Ltd., leases education facilities to 12 educational institution offering a wide variety of vocational and technical courses.

Establishments

Design Colleges

• Bangkok, Thailand
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Singapore
• Jakarta, Indonesia
• Mumbai, India
• Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Guangzhou, China
• Shanghai, China
• Milan, Italy

Universities & Vocational Schools

• Raffles University Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia
• Tianjin University of Commerce Boustead College, China
• Hefei Wanbao College, China

K-12

• Suzhou Kindergarten, Suzhou China
• Raffles American School, Iskandar Puteri Malaysia
• Raffles American School, Bangkok, Thailand

Oriental University City

• 12 Educational Institutes, China

Incidents

In 2019, Chew Hua Seng, chairman of Raffles Education, was taken to court by the second largest shareholder, Oei Hong Leong, on allegations that the former had renegaded on an agreement to buy back the latter’s shares at a specific price. The lawsuit was dismissed by Justice Lee Seiu Kin at the High Court of Singapore.^[6] Lee said that the short discussion, lasting less than two minutes, was not meant to be legally binding and having no contractual merit.^[6]

In May 2021, Affin Bank, a Malaysian bank, filed writs against the company in May 2021 demanding repayment of a loan, amounting to over half the market capitalisation of the company. The company has made full repayment and settlement of the loan on 22nd April 2025, despite the shorten period of loan service imposed by Affin Bank due to the Covid-19 pandemic.