They are also landing jobs sooner, with nearly all snagging positions within six months of graduation.

The overall starting salary for the Class of 2007 went up 6.7 per cent to $3,040 from $2,850 for the Class of 2006, the university's latest employment survey indicates.

The top 20 per cent are getting monthly starting salaries of $5,600.

The top 12 per cent - one in eight graduates or 69 of them from across all degree programmes - are doing even better, drawing starting salaries of between $4,000 and $10,000 a month.

Among the Class of 2006, just 8 per cent or 26 made it to this pay bracket.

Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.