Its new principal, Mr Yeo Li Pheow, 48, who took over last July, said he had received similar feedback from students who had graduated.

Currently, RP students are asked to do a professional profiling project where students analyse an industry, a company or an issue to have a better understanding of their area of study, in place of an internship with a company. This is not the case in the other four polys, where an on-the-job training stint of about six months is the norm.

Some have gone even further: Temasek Poly students can, for example, source internships with companies they wish to join, while at Nanyang Poly, students get to go to far-flung countries like France, Germany and Japan for their attachments.

Miss Amy Lim, 23, a laboratory technologist at the National University of Singapore, graduated with a biomedical science diploma in 2007, but said she felt at a disadvantage because she did not know what to expect.

For the full story, read Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.