Education conglomerate expands in Asia Pacific

MANILA, Philippines – The largest private tertiary education group in Asia Pacific, RafflesEducationCorp. (REC), reports further expansion in the region as it continues to build on its success in the region.    

Despite the impact of foreign exchange translation loss as a result of the strengthening Singapore dollar against regional currencies, and the costs incurred due to the group’s expansion into emerging markets, the group posted a revenue of S$157.6 million in 2011, and is poised to face the current financial turmoil with confidence.

“We are armed with a sound and asset-backed balance sheet,” states REC chairman and CEO Chew Hua Seng. “We are confident that our new colleges will contribute to the group after their respective gestation period, and provide additional capital for reinvestment into the Group’s education business.”

Established by chairman and CEO Chew Hua Seng in 1990 in Singapore with Private Education System (PES) as its product, the company has grown to operate 38 colleges in 35 cities across 14 countries that include Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and now, the Philippines.

In 2011, REC set up its very first campus in the Philippines: Raffles Design Institute Manila (RDIM) in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. RDIM brings REC’s valuable international expertise and perspective to Filipino students to augment and enhance their competitiveness in the global design industry.

The brand new campus has rolled out four programmes for a start last July 2011: two-year, full-time, advanced diploma courses in Fashion Design, Fashion Marketing and Management, Graphic Design, and Interior Design.

Taught by an international academic team comprising of industry practitioners from the UK, US, and the Philippines, the programs at RDIM are designed to equip aspiring designers with the essential technical and business knowledge and skills for the global arena in a fast-track program, with the option to top up their studies within the Raffles network of colleges in 14 countries.

“Comprehensive skill and knowledge outcomes and employability of students are emphasized in Raffles’ curriculum, as are creative and analytical approaches that encourage individual judgment and self-awareness,’’ states RDIM college director Darion Lim.

The Raffles International Admissions Office (IAO) was also recently established at RDIM, serving as a convenient gateway for Filipino students intending to further their studies in overseas Raffles campuses like Australia, Singapore and China, and to gain an internationally-recognised bachelor and master degrees in the disciplines of design, commerce, infocomm, biomedical science and psychology.

REC marked another milestone with the establishment of its first self-accrediting university, Raffles University Iskandar (RUI) in Malaysia. Currently operating at its leased premises in Kotaraya, RUI is expected to see its first intake in April 2012, and its 65-acre multifacility campus in EduCity@Iskandar is expected to be in operation by 2013. RUI will offer a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the areas of business, technology, arts and design, education, health, and social sciences.

The development of RUI, along with the Raffles Millennium University in Mumbai, India (established 2009) raises the profile of REC from a higher education provider to that of a full-fledged university group.

“The development of the Raffles Universities validates the group’s academic credibility and epitomizes the group’s growth from a humble fashion college in Singapore to a reputable pan-Asian university group,” states Chairman Chew Hua Seng.