Strong employment outcomes and higher starting salaries for NUS graduates amidst economic uncertainty
- Higher or similarly high starting salaries for graduates from 25 courses
- Steady rise in median starting salaries for Arts and Social Sciences, Law, Medicine, and Science graduates over the past three years
- 100 per cent employment for graduates from Dentistry; 97.9 per cent employment for Nursing graduates
- More than nine in 10 graduates across 18 degree programmes employed within six months.
Graduates of the National University of Singapore (NUS) continued to achieve strong employment rates and earned higher starting salaries in 2023, according to the Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey (JAUGES) 2023.
The JAUGES 2023 was jointly conducted by NUS and the other Autonomous Universities.
Professor Aaron Thean, NUS Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost, said, "Beyond knowledge and skills, the fast-paced business environment today demands resilience and adaptability – traits that NUS strives to instil in our graduates through our broad-based, interdisciplinary and experiential education. This is complemented by the University’s comprehensive career services that equip our graduates with future-ready life skills and sharpen their employability. The results of the JAUGES 2023 indicate that we are headed in the right direction, and we are very proud that our graduates continue to enjoy strong employment outcomes and command competitive salaries amidst a volatile job market, both in Singapore and globally.”
“We remain committed to supporting our graduates to continually reskill and upskill through innovative lifelong education offerings, so that they remain relevant and competitive in the future global workplace,” he added.
More than nine in 10 NUS fresh graduates employed within six months after final exams
5,582 out of a total of 7,629 fresh NUS graduates from the Class of 2023, and 436 out of 819 follow-up[1] NUS graduates, participated in the joint survey.
Among NUS fresh graduates in the labour force, 90.5 per cent were employed within six months of completing their final exams, a slight dip from the 93.9 per cent in the 2022 survey. 85.4 per cent of NUS fresh graduates secured full-time permanent employment[2] within the same period. Another 3.5 per cent of NUS fresh graduates in the labour force have either accepted a job offer and are pending commencement of duty, or are actively starting a business venture.
Fresh graduates from Dentistry achieved 100 per cent employment, while 97.9 per cent of Nursing graduates secured jobs. More than nine in 10 fresh NUS graduates across 18 degree programmes joined the labour force within six months of completing their final exams. The list of these courses can be found in Annex A.
Nearly 97 percent of follow-up graduates from Law, who completed their practical law course/pupillage, were employed within six months of completing their final exams.
NUS graduates in full-time permanent employment earned higher starting salaries
The survey also revealed that the mean gross monthly salary of NUS fresh graduates in full-time permanent employment was S$4,875 in 2023, a slight increase from S$4,808 in 2022.
The median gross monthly salary of fresh graduates from NUS in full-time permanent employment also increased from S$4,300 in 2022, to S$4,400 in 2023.
Graduates from 25 courses in Arts and Social Sciences, Business, Computing, Design and Engineering, Law, Nursing, Science, and Music are either fetching higher or maintaining similar starting salaries as graduates the year before. Please refer to Annex B for the list of courses in which graduates have achieved higher or similarly high starting salaries compared to 2022.
In particular, median starting salaries for graduates from Arts and Social Sciences, Law, and Science have risen continuously over the past three years.
Pursuing their passions to drive impact
Ms Rica Teo En Yu graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Project and Facilities Management where she achieved Honours with Highest Distinction. Following an internship with City Developments Limited (CDL) during her third year of study at the NUS College of Design and Engineering (CDE), Rica secured a full-time position in the company before her graduation.
Rica is now a Management Trainee with CDL, working in the Green Building, Decarbonisation and Safety team. As a sustainability advocate with a passion for green building development, the fresh graduate feels that she has found the right job fit in the competitive real estate industry.
She credits the interdisciplinary education at CDE for preparing her well for the workplace. The courses that she studied at the NUS Department of the Built Environment, such as Energy Management, Green Development, and Smart Facilities, provided her with a strong foundation and conceptual understanding of key principles related to her field of work.
“My current work is extremely fulfilling as I know that what I do will directly and positively impact the environment. Not only do I get to apply what I have learnt in NUS to my current role, I am also able to enrich my knowledge with the latest industry developments through various courses and industry sharing that my organisation sends me to,” Rica said.
In recognition of her dedication towards advancing the field of the built environment, Rica was accorded the Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) Singapore Commendation Award 2023 by the Urban Land Institute (ULI). The award aims to increase the visibility and professional development opportunities for women in the industry.
Armed with a strong background in finance and investment, NUS Business School graduate Mr Corneles Jaemes D’Silva now works as a Global Markets Analyst at Goldman Sachs where his role involves institutional sales for foreign exchange, interest rates derivatives, and delta one products.
He recounts the strong support that he received from career advisors at BIZCareers to understand more about job prospects in banking and finance, especially investment banking, asset management and consulting, and to polish up his resume and interview skills.
“In my free time I attended multiple workshops organised by BIZCareers and learnt more through one-on-one sessions with the very patient career counsellors. I also cultivated a good network through the efforts of NUS BizConnect and NUS Investment Society,” said Corneles.
The fresh graduate is also grateful for the financial support he received throughout his educational journey. "In my first semester, I took up part-time jobs. Thereafter, I received a bursary from Mrs Wong Kwok Leong and subsequently a scholarship from the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which made it possible for me to focus on my studies and pursue internships without the burden of financial worries” said Corneles.
Outside his academic and professional pursuits during his undergraduate years, he was actively involved in extracurricular activities, taking up leadership roles in the NUS Entrepreneurship Society and NUS Investment Society and co-founded the NUS Commodities Society.
“Inspired by all the support I received, my friends and I started the NUS Commodities Society to guide students with a keen interest in this area after we completed our internships. The society continues to thrive under the current leadership of my juniors, and I continue to strive for excellence in my own career now while staying open to helping others who have a similar path."
[1] Follow-up graduates refer to those from the Architecture Class of 2020 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/pre-registration training upon completion of their studies in 2022.
[2] Full-time permanent employment refers to the number of graduates working on a full-time permanent basis, as a proportion of graduates in the labour force (i.e. those who were working, or not working but actively looking and available for a job).
