Fewer grads from private universities find employment within six months

While more than half of the number of graduates from private universities in Singapore find full-time jobs within six months of graduation, their starting salaries continue to lag behind others in independent universities.

The latest Private Education Institution Graduate Employment Survey, released by SkillsFuture Singapore, found that the full-time permanent job placement rate for graduates from private universities in 2023 dipped slightly to 58.7%, compared to 60.9 in 2022. Of the 2,400 economically active graduates – those who are working, or not working but actively looking and available for jobs – surveyed, 83.2% found permanent, freelance, or part-time jobs within six months of graduating, a 2.3% drop from the year before.

The average gross monthly pay for the 2023 cohort increased from that of 2022, with private university graduates in full-time positions earning S$3,400 (US$2499.24), up from S$3,200 (US$2352.22) in 2022.

Graduates from the Singapore Institute of Management earned the most, with a median gross monthly salary of S$3,500 (US$2572.74), while graduates from Kaplan Higher Education Academy received S$3,000 (US$2205.21).

Fresh graduates from independent universities, such as Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore, started with a median monthly salary of S$4,313 (US$3170.36), according to the employment survey of the 2023 batch of autonomous university graduates released in February.

READ MORE: Fresh graduates in Singapore get paid more but fewer find jobs

More than four out of five employees (84.1%) who graduated from autonomous universities secured full-time permanent roles within six months, with 4% doing part-time or temporary work, and 1.5% working freelance.

Post-national service polytechnic graduates, meanwhile, started with a median monthly salary of S$2,963 (US$2178.01), an increase from S$2,800 (US$2058.20) in 2022, reported The Straits Times.