High employment rate and better starting salaries for NUS graduates
- Better employment rates for fresh graduates from 15 courses and higher starting salaries for fresh graduates in full-time permanent employment from 16 courses
- Full employment for fresh graduates from Dentistry
- More than nine in 10 fresh graduates from Business, Computing and Design & Environment employed within six months of completing their final exams
- Close to full employment for follow-up graduates from Law and Medicine
Graduates of the National University of Singapore (NUS) enjoyed a stable and high employment rate and higher starting salaries in 2016 compared to the year before. In particular, NUS fresh graduates from 16 courses in full-time permanent employment achieved higher starting salaries1, while overall employment rates for fresh graduates in 15 courses have increased.
These results were based on the latest Joint Graduate Employment Survey 2016, which was jointly conducted by NUS and the four other Autonomous Universities.
Professor Tan Eng Chye, NUS Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost, said, "We are heartened to note that NUS graduates continue to enjoy high employability and competitive salaries, despite a tight employment market. The world economy is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable, and employers today value experience over a degree. At NUS, we aim to empower our students with more than just strong technical skills. The unique NUS education places a strong emphasis on global exposure, experiential learning as well as the acquisition of critical soft skills that are relevant to the workplace of the future. We will continue to enhance our curriculum offerings and strengthen the NUS educational experience to nurture high calibre graduates who are future-ready."
Close to nine in 10 NUS fresh graduates secured employment within 6 months after final exams; Almost full employment rates for follow-up NUS graduates
5,075 out of a total of 6,314 full-time fresh NUS graduates from the Class of 2016 and 551 out of 763 follow-up NUS graduates2 participated in the joint survey. The overall employment rate3 for fresh graduates from NUS was close to 90%, which is comparable to last year.
Fresh graduates from Dentistry enjoyed 100% overall employment rate, while Law graduates who completed their one-year practical law course or pupilage as well as Medicine graduates who completed their housemanship/first year residential training, saw almost full employment. More than nine in 10 fresh graduates from Business, Computing and Design & Environment were employed within six months of completing their final exams.
In addition, graduates from 15 courses in Arts and Social Sciences, Business, Industrial Design, Real Estate, Engineering, Music, Science, Environmental Studies, Pharmacy and Law achieved a higher overall employment rate in 2016, compared to 2015.
The top three courses that saw the highest increase in overall employment rates are Industrial Design, Arts (Hons), and Biomedical Engineering. Please refer to Annex 1 for the list of courses in which graduates have achieved higher employment rates compared to 2015.
Higher salaries for NUS graduates in full-time permanent employment
The survey also revealed that the mean gross monthly salary of fresh NUS graduates in full-time permanent employment was $3,541 in 2016, which is 2.1% higher than in 2015.
The median gross monthly salary of fresh graduates from NUS in full-time permanent employment was $3,400 in 2016, which is 3% higher than that in 2015.
Graduates from 16 courses in Arts, Business, Computing, Dentistry, Real Estate, Engineering, Nursing, Applied Science, Law, Medicine and Pharmacy achieved improvement in starting salaries.
Two Computing courses – Computer Science and Information Systems – as well as Electrical Engineering saw the highest increase in starting salaries. Please refer to Annex 2 for the list of courses in which graduates have achieved higher starting salaries compared to 2015.
[1] Starting salary refers to graduates’ median gross monthly salary.
[2] Follow-up graduates refer to those from the Architecture Class of 2013, who took part in the survey upon completion of their practical training, and graduates from Law, Medicine, and Pharmacy courses, who took part in the survey after completing their one-year practical law course, pupilage or housemanship/first-year residency training upon completion of their studies in 2015.
[3] The overall employment rate refers to the number of graduates working in full-time permanent, part-time, temporary and freelance employment, as a proportion of graduates in the labour force. (i.e. those who are working, and those who are not working but are actively looking and available for work.)
