SINGAPORE - Nearly 81 per cent of graduates from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) in 2020 secured full-time jobs, compared with about seven in 10 of their peers who graduated from four other local universities last year.
The annual joint graduate employment survey released in February had polled graduates from the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Management University and Singapore University of Social Sciences. Their results reflected a wider range of disciplines, including the arts and social sciences.
Tuesday's (March 30) results from a separate survey of the 2020 batch of SUTD graduates showed that 95.9 per cent of them found employment within six months of completing their final examinations. This includes those in full-time, part-time, temporary or freelance work.
Last year's SUTD graduates in full-time permanent employment earned a median gross monthly salary of $4,100, slightly more than $4,072 in 2019.
The figure is also higher than the median starting salary of $3,700 that their peers from the four other universities took home last year.
The latest SUTD survey, which was conducted in February, involved 302 of its 372 fresh graduates last year.
Among those in full-time permanent work, 94.4 per cent had received at least one job offer, while the others include scholarship holders who would not need to apply for a job. And 50.3 per cent had two or more job offers, SUTD said in a media release.
Slightly more than a quarter of graduates who found full-time work had received return job offers arising from their internships, which are compulsory for SUTD students.
SUTD, which was established in 2009, offers degree programmes with a focus on engineering, innovation and design.
Another 2.5 per cent of its fresh graduates last year in the labour force have either accepted a job offer but have yet to start work or are not working but are actively starting a business venture.
SUTD said the top hiring industries for its graduates were information and communication, finance and insurance, and scientific research and development.
Its information systems technology and design graduates received a median salary of $4,500, with a full-time permanent employment rate of 85.4 per cent.
SUTD graduate Ashlyn Goh, 23, has been working at software development firm Titansoft since October 2020.
She was offered the role of software developer in her third year of university in 2019, after coming across the company at a networking session organised by SUTD.
"I've always been interested in technology and have loved computers since young. Back then, I thought coding was difficult, but my older sister, who's also a programmer, inspired me to learn," said Ms Goh, who graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in Information Systems Technology and Design last year.
"The job market is tougher than usual, but the demand for talent in the tech industry is still quite high and the Government's traineeships are helpful," she said.
"I'm definitely very lucky to have started my job search early."
