For any student who wants to begin a career in fashion and design by getting a diploma, an advanced diploma, a bachelor’s degree top-up or a master’s degree, Raffles Design Institute is a great option. Also known as Raffles College of Higher Education Singapore (or Raffles Singapore for short), it’s a high-quality provider of design and business-related education with a practical, hands-on approach. Plus, it’s a chance for international students to enjoy living and learning in beautiful Singapore.

The Raffles name is known across many cities and countries, including China, India, Malaysia and of course, Singapore. Tutors and lecturers across the Raffles institutions offer students industry-based design learning that allows them to pass their courses and succeed in their professional fields after graduation, and Raffles Singapore is the headquarters of all this award-winning education.

Programmes at Raffles Singapore are often faster and more intensive than courses at traditional universities in Singapore and the wider world. The time it takes a student to complete a programme and get a degree or diploma can be halved or even further reduced, so students can receive the knowledge and qualifications they need at a pace that better suits them before entering the field as soon as possible to start their careers.

The focus on industry and achieving career goals is even further supported by Raffles Singapore’s career counselling and advising services. These can be useful to all students, domestic and international, whether they’re exploring career options or creating a plan of action to get them where they know they’d like to go professionally. Industry leaders start their journeys at Raffles Singapore’s modern campus all the time, as the many alumni success stories prove.

Find out more about studying at Raffles Singapore:

Teaching quality

Entry requirements

Scholarships & funding

University structure

Facilities

Student support

Graduate outcomes

Teaching Quality

Raffles Singapore is proud to offer its students a lot of different programmes in the field of design, with high-quality teaching leading students to succeed in whatever field they want to study and start a career in. Tutors at the institution are encouraging and inspiring. They care about student needs and aim to make every student feel comfortable and heard in the classroom.

The teaching quality at Raffles Singapore is confirmed by the awards the college has received over the 32 years it’s been developing young minds and supporting student design talent. These include the IAIR Corporate Award for Best Company for Leadership in Private Education in Asia Pacific, the International Diamond Prize Award for Excellence in Quality, and the National World Branding Award for Brand of the Year three years in a row.

These awards and more show that Raffles Singapore has had a consistently quality teaching standard for a long time. The college also has an impressive Singapore ranking of 51 to 100 in the subject field of art and design, according to the QS World University Rankings.

This is an institution providing top-quality education in the field of art and design and an institution where lecturers have a true passion for the talented students they teach. Students hoping to grow their skills and creativity as they follow design-focused dreams are in the right place at Raffles Singapore.

Entry Requirements

Normally, universities and colleges will have a certain set of university entry requirements that applicants must meet, as well as some specific entry requirements depending on their chosen degree level and course of study. Raffles Singapore doesn’t have university requirements as strict as students might find at other institutions and is proud to make courses as accessible as possible.

In terms of university qualifications for entry, students only need, at minimum, an IGCSE/GCE O pass with five credits, including English (or the equivalent for an international student’s home country). Under each specific course on the Raffles Singapore website, potential future students can find the exact information they need about entry requirements from their home country.

Students should visit the Raffles website, check the course they want to study and scroll down to the ‘minimum entry requirement’ section, where they can select their country and be told what basic qualifications are expected of them (usually just the completion of secondary school/their equivalent).

For example, if a student from Korea wants to study for a diploma in game design, they will need to be educated up to the senior high school level, and if a student from India wants to study for a diploma in game design, they will need to be educated up to the level of ICSEs (Indian Certificates of Secondary Education). In terms of eligibility and entry requirements for higher-level courses, it tends to follow this path:

• If a student wants to study for an advanced diploma at Raffles Singapore, they’ll need to have a Raffles Singapore diploma or the equivalent.
• If a student wants to study for a bachelor’s degree top-up at Raffles Singapore, they’ll need to have a Raffles Singapore advanced diploma or the equivalent.
• If a student wants to study for a master’s degree at Raffles Singapore, they’ll need to have a Raffles Singapore bachelor’s degree top-up or the equivalent.

English Score Required

Any applicant wanting to enrol in a programme at Raffles Singapore will first need to prove a certain level of proficiency in the English language. For this institution, this process is kept nice and simple, with the same scores applying to all courses across the college. However, only one form of English test is accepted by the college.

Students who can’t already show their English understanding through their background/academic history will need to take a proficiency test and get a minimum English score. The testing method accepted at Raffles Singapore is the International English Language Testing System, or the IELTS. The minimum overall IELTS band score required for entry consideration is 5.5.

If students don’t manage to reach this score, they might still be able to prove their English abilities through the Raffles English Placement Test, which is there to give students another chance to reach the standards set by the college. More information about all Raffles Singapore entry requirements, including English language requirements, is available on the website’s FAQs page.

Admission

The university admission process for international students is simple and clearly explained at Raffles Singapore. This institute is committed to being as accessible as possible, and that includes an easy-to-understand application journey and a clear path to student admission.

Raffles Singapore overseas applicants are encouraged to find the right course for them and submit their application for admission at least three months before the start of their first academic term. This should give them lots of time to apply for a student pass, which they’ll need to study abroad in Singapore. This will also give them time to arrange their travel to the country and sort out their accommodation before they arrive.

Applicants must submit a completed application form for their chosen course of study and a completed immigration form. The application fee is SGD 500, payable when all the necessary application documents are submitted. These documents include a copy of the student’s valid passport, certified copies of their latest academic certificates and transcripts, and three passport-sized photographs of the student.

Once the application and all documents have been submitted, it’s up to the admissions team to decide whether an applicant will be offered a place. Once they learn that they’ve been accepted, applicants should apply for a student pass through the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA). The process usually takes around four weeks.

Scholarships & Funding

Raffles Singapore always aims to recognise and reward hard-working students and high academic achievers, and anything the college can do to reduce student tuition fees and funding demands, it will. Top Student Awards are offered when Raffles Singapore students complete any of the Raffles advanced diplomas. These scholarships work very similarly to traditional university scholarships, encouraging academic achievement and giving financial assistance.

The awarding amount of a Top Student Award can be put towards course fees at the next available level of study: a bachelor’s degree top-up programme. These awards are great for the institution and the students, and they encourage students not just to do well but to keep up their studies and increase their education, growing their career prospects with every new level they reach.

Winning a Top Student Award is a huge achievement that makes deciding to complete further study more affordable and possible for lots of deserving Raffles students each year. More information about these Top Student Awards is available on the Raffles Singapore website.

In terms of other types of funding support and assistance, there are also some financial aid routes for students experiencing hardship or sudden financial issues. Students can contact the college to learn more about bursary and loan options but should feel safe in the knowledge that Raffles Singapore support staff will do everything they can to help a student get an education at the institution (no matter what their financial background or situation happens to be).

University Structure

Students at Raffles Singapore can enjoy a range of expertly taught programmes, mostly focused on the fields of art and design. There are just two main disciplines that courses are organised into: Design and Merchandising. They are organised like this:

• Design
  • Animation
  • Digital Media Design
  • Fashion Design
  • Game Design
  • Graphic Design
  • Interior Architecture and Design
  • Jewellery Design
  • Product Design
• Merchandising
  • Fashion Communication and Journalism
  • Fashion Marketing
  • Retail Management
  • Design Management MA

Raffles Singapore also offers preparatory courses, including the IGCSE, foundation studies and some English language programmes. One of the things that makes this college different from other higher education establishments, beyond its design specialism, is the speed of course completion. Raffles Singapore diplomas take six months, advanced diplomas take 18 months, and bachelor’s top-up programmes and master’s degrees both take 12 months.

This approach to learning helps Raffles students receive impressive, employability-increasing qualifications in less time than in other institutions. Students work hard to get into their professional field earlier, and everything is efficiently structured and organised to prevent any wasted time.

Facilities

Raffles Singapore’s campus is beautiful, modern and well-designed to support a comfortable, focused learning experience that suits a wide range of students. There are lots of on-campus facilities for teaching, studying, student extracurricular activity and student socialising. This college is perfect for any person trying to find a place where they’ll have room to make friends and join clubs, chat, and relax in great spots on campus between classes and focus on their independent study without being disturbed.

The Raffles Education Square (the name that the Raffles Singapore campus goes by) at this college includes the Raffles Concierge, the library, the digital media lab, the 3D printing lab, the chapel, the student services department, the Student Connexion space and a number of design studios.

The Raffles Concierge is an area designed to show off award-winning designs from Raffles designers, marketers, and entrepreneurs. Student Connexion is a student space for everything from socialising to group work and a very popular student life centre on campus.

The Raffles library is a student activity centre for research, study, and hard work. It contains lots of books and learning resources (physical and digital), so students can access all that they need for their studies in one place. Plus, there are computers, printing facilities, independent study spaces and group study spaces.

The library is a versatile space that makes learning the focus, and the same is true of every lecture theatre and teaching room at Raffles Singapore. There are four computer labs, two seminar rooms, 22 design studios and even a dance studio, the perfect student recreation centre for active studying and practical skill development.

Overall, all the facilities and services a student could possibly need are available to them at Raffles Singapore. The Raffles Education Square has been designed to be as convenient and useful to them as possible, and the technology on campus is always being updated so that it stays up-to-date with industry standards and expectations.

Accommodation

The Raffles Education Square campus is teaching-only, and Raffles Singapore students don’t get to enjoy the kind of on-campus university accommodation options that some other higher education institutions offer. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though, because there are still lots of great student accommodation options in beautiful Singapore. This is a diverse city filled with amenities, activities, and beautiful green spaces. It’s a very fun place to live, loved by many students.

When international applicants apply for a place at Raffles Singapore, it’s recommended that they do this three months in advance to give themselves enough time to get a student pass for overseas study in the country. Because of this, they also have a lot of time to think about their accommodation options and find the student house or apartment that feels right for them.

There are lots of private housing websites, companies, and opportunities, so the choice is all about what an individual student likes best. Would they prefer to be in a dormitory-style apartment block/hall of residence, similar to campus offerings at other universities? Would they rather have the privacy of a studio apartment? Do they already have friends in Singapore who could share a larger rented house or property with them? The most important things for international students to remember are:

• They should sort out their accommodation before they arrive in the country
• They should do lots of research before committing to an accommodation contract to make sure the accommodation that they’ve chosen is well reviewed and legitimate
• Their Singapore student experience will be very authentic thanks to their off-campus housing

Student Support

At Raffles Singapore, student happiness and health are priorities one and two. Student support is taken very seriously, and there is a full student support programme in place to connect people with the help they need whenever they need any. Student support services include career counselling with a student guide and academic advising from tutors and peers, but they don’t stop at the classroom.

There are also some core student services focused on emotional wellbeing, like the Raffles College Counselling Service (RCCS). The RCCS is 100 per cent free and fully confidential. Students can make appointments on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to discuss any personal or academic issues that are bothering them.

After sharing in a safe and confidential space, members of the counselling team can give students the help they need to help them get back on track. These counselling sessions are very important for struggling students, giving them the best chance of success.

Other support services offered to students include administrative help with student passes, applications, transcripts and certificates, fully-confidential complaints processes, and spiritual services through the Raffles Chaplaincy. Disabled students can receive dedicated learning support and accessibility assistance. International students can receive targeted advice in areas like immigration, travel and settling into student life in Singapore. This college has every student's needs covered.

Graduate Outcomes

Where a student is studying design, marketing or management, their time at Raffles Singapore will give them the skills and confidence they need to succeed after graduation. Student job prospects and career options are improved a lot after even a diploma-level course, and the college puts a lot of focus on growing and developing its students during their time spent studying.

Raffles Singapore doesn’t just prepare students well for professional life in the classroom, though. There are also lots of career services available to students who need some support and guidance. Employment services offered include career counselling, networking opportunities, industry placements and projects; anything that can help a student leave feeling confident about their path forward.

Career counselling services at Raffles Singapore are perfect for students who want to speak with a career guide and figure out their goals, as well as how they can effectively stand out in a competitive job market.

The Centre of Professional Development (CPD) prepares students for professional life and opens them up to career opportunities. Through various projects, industry research opportunities and industrial work placements, the CPD aims to prepare students for whichever industry they hope to enter and keep their knowledge up-to-date with current industry/professional standards.

Thanks to the hard work and focus of Raffles Singapore faculty members, students enrolled at the college are nearly always fully prepared to make the shift from education to their profession. Whatever their field of study, students are encouraged and helped to reach their career goals from their first day to their final day. International students aiming to start a career in design in Singapore won’t find a better place to start.