Institut Sinaran was first established as Sabah Tshung Tsin Pre-University Centre in 1987 at
Sabah Tshung Tsin Secondary School. It was later upgraded from a Centre into an institute on 14 July 2002 launched by Datuk
Chong Kah Kiat, 13th
Chief Minister of Sabah. In 2006, Institut Sinaran started their own Diploma in Commerce which has been fully accredited by the
Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), with credit transfer to many universities locally and abroad for direct entry into 2nd year of business related degree programme. 2008 was another milestone forward as Institut Sinaran were approved to be the first
South Australian Matriculation (SAM) centre in East Malaysia. The combination of school based assessments for assignments and the external exams, provide a more holistic approach to assess students' abilities and to prepare them well for rigorous studies in university. On 4 January 2010, Institut Sinaran moved from where it began into a new campus which located at KM 10 between Jalan Tuaran Bypass and Jalan Sulaman, situated near
University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and
1Borneo Hypermall in
Kota Kinabalu. The old campus was situated at
Sabah Tshung Tsin Secondary School along Jalan Damai. Institut Sinaran partnered with Taylor's University and launched the Taylor's University Foundation in Science Programme on 24 January 2015 and the first intake started in March 2015. ==Educational Structure==