Ministry of Education, Singapore

GRADUATE EMPLOYMENT SURVEY

The Graduate Employment Survey (GES) is jointly conducted by NTU, NUS and SMU annually to survey
the employment conditions of graduates as at 1 Nov, about six months after their final examinations.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) publishes the results of key employment indicators of the survey to
provide prospective students with timely and comparable data to assist them in making informed
course decisions. 13,656 graduates from NTU, NUS and SMU were surveyed and the overall response rate
obtained was 74%.

NTU: 2014 GES Employment Rates1 and Salaries of Graduates by Bachelor Degree
Degree

Overall
Employment
Rate2 (%)

Full-Time
Permanent
Employment
Rate3 (%)

Basic Monthly
Salary4 ($)

Gross Monthly Salary ($)5

Mean

Median

Mean

Median

25th
Percentile

75th
Percentile

College of Business (Nanyang Business School)

Accountancy and Business

98.2

95.6

$3,539

$3,300

$3,597

$3,300

$2,900

$4,000

Accountancy (3-yr direct Honours Programme)

96.6

96.1

$2,981

$2,800

$3,003

$2,840

$2,700

$3,000

Business (3-yr direct Honours Programme)

89.6

80.2

$3,231

$3,000

$3,318

$3,100

$2,800

$3,600

Business and Computing

92.9

89.3

$3,398

$3,400

$3,431

$3,450

$3,232

$4,000

Aerospace Engineering

84.6

82.7

$3,715

$3,700

$3,911

$3,770

$3,300

$4,070

Bioengineering

79.8

69.7

$2,998

$3,000

$3,188

$3,000

$2,825

$3,400

Chemical And Biomolecular Engineering

83.8

76.1

$3,296

$3,250

$3,415

$3,400

$3,200

$3,575

Computer Engineering

91.4

88.8

$3,423

$3,300

$3,512

$3,400

$3,200

$3,800

Civil Engineering

93.8

92.9

$3,122

$3,000

$3,152

$3,100

$3,000

$3,300

Computer Science

94.5

93.7

$3,269

$3,200

$3,304

$3,200

$3,000

$3,700

Electrical And Electronic Engineering

90.7

88.4

$3,241

$3,175

$3,336

$3,200

$3,000

$3,500

Environmental Engineering

88.9

82.2

$3,121

$3,000

$3,111

$3,000

$3,000

$3,500

Information Engineering And Media

85.7

73.2

$3,185

$3,000

$3,318

$3,200

$3,000

$3,600

Materials Engineering

82.5

77.7

$3,145

$3,000

$3,261

$3,150

$3,000

$3,410

Mechanical Engineering

90.2

87.8

$3,161

$3,000

$3,289

$3,100

$3,000

$3,500

Maritime Studies

92.5

92.5

$3,163

$3,050

$3,206

$3,050

$3,000

$3,500

Art, Design & Media

80.0

68.0

$2,761

$2,600

$2,791

$2,700

$2,300

$3,000

Chinese

86.8

75.8

$2,927

$3,000

$3,006

$3,000

$2,700

$3,300

Communication Studies

86.7

77.9

$2,891

$2,800

$2,976

$3,000

$2,600

$3,294

Economics

88.7

78.4

$3,183

$3,075

$3,222

$3,200

$3,000

$3,500

English

87.0

63.0

$3,137

$3,000

$3,432

$3,100

$2,800

$3,990

Linguistics And Multilingual Studies

85.7

66.7

$3,066

$3,000

$3,148

$3,230

$2,800

$3,500

Psychology

66.7

54.9

$3,197

$3,100

$3,228

$3,100

$2,800

$3,500

Sociology

73.2

67.9

$3,002

$3,000

$3,143

$3,100

$2,800

$3,260

College of Engineering

College of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences

College of Sciences
Biomedical Science **

N.A

N.A

N.A

N.A

N.A

N.A

N.A

N.A

Biomedical Science (Traditional Chinese Medicine) 7

100.0

100.0

$2,974

$2,900

$3,018

$2,900

$2,786

$3,400

Biological Sciences

75.1

60.8

$3,083

$3,000

$3,174

$3,000

$2,800

$3,400

Chemistry & Biological Chemistry

80.5

68.3

$3,006

$3,000

$3,321

$3,100

$2,800

$3,400

Mathematics & Economics

88.4

87.0

$3,155

$3,200

$3,142

$3,200

$2,800

$3,500

Mathematical Science

91.3

79.7

$3,022

$3,000

$3,078

$3,200

$2,800

$3,300

Physics / Applied Physics

73.7

63.2

$3,034

$3,000

$3,241

$3,100

$2,800

$3,560

Sports Science and Management

87.9

69.7

$3,076

$2,800

$3,229

$3,000

$2,700

$3,590

Science (with Education) 6

100.0

100.0

$3,358

$3,400

$3,475

$3,475

$3,400

$3,750

Arts (with Education) 6

100.0

100.0

$3,388

$3,400

$3,536

$3,475

$3,400

$3,700

National Institute of Education (NIE)

Source: Graduate Employment Survey jointly conducted by NTU, NUS and SMU

Notes:
1. The employment rates refer to the number of graduates employed as a proportion of economically active graduates (i.e.
graduates who engage actively in the labour market either by working or looking for a job) as at 1 Nov 2014 (i.e.
approximately 6 months after completing their final examinations).
2. Overall employment includes all types of full-time, part-time and temporary employment.
3. Full-time permanent employment refers to employment of at least 35 hours a week and where the employment is not
temporary. It includes those on contracts of one year or more.
4. Basic monthly salary pertains only to full-time permanently employed graduates. It comprises basic pay before deductions
of the employees CPF contributions and personal income tax. Employers CPF contributions, bonuses, stock options,
overtime payments, commissions, allowances, other monetary and lump sum payments, and payments-in-kind are
excluded.
5. Gross monthly salary pertains only to full-time permanently employed graduates. It comprises the basic salary, fixed
allowances, over-time pay and commissions. Employers CPF contributions, bonuses, stock options, other lump sum
payments, and payments-in-kind are excluded.
6. National Institute of Education (NIE) is an autonomous institute of NTU.
7. Data on Biomedical Sciences (Traditional Chinese Medicine) graduates is obtained from a follow-up survey on 2013
graduates after they have completed their practical training.
8. **: No data is shown due to the small number of graduates and/or low response rates.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. What is the difference between mean and median salaries?
The mean monthly salary is an average of the salaries of the full-time permanently employed graduates. The median
monthly salary is the salary of the 'central' (i.e. 50th Percentile) graduate in a set of full-time permanently employed
graduates when they are arranged in a sequential order by salary. It is useful to refer to these 2 indicators together. The
median is a useful reference when the salary data is not evenly distributed (e.g. when the group contains graduates with
exceptionally low or high salaries, especially when the number of respondents is relatively small).
For example, although the median gross monthly salary for the Accountancy and Business course offered by NTU shows
that 50% of the graduates are earning $3,300 or less, the mean gross monthly salary is $3,597. This indicates that there are
some high earners who have raised the mean salary. In contrast, the mean gross monthly salary of Business and
Computing graduates is relatively similar to the median gross monthly salary. This indicates that salaries are more evenly
distributed on both sides of the median for this group of graduates.
2. What do the 25th and 75th percentile gross monthly salaries indicate?
If there are 100 students from that course who responded, then the 25th percentile (i.e. the lower quartile) gross monthly
salary indicates that 75 graduates earn more than that salary, and the 75th percentile (i.e. the upper quartile) indicates that
25 graduates earn more than the gross monthly salary indicated.
Disclaimer
The data published in this document is provided on an as is basis without any warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent
permitted by law, MOE does not warrant and hereby disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, correctness, completeness,
reliability or fitness for any particular purpose of such data. The reader of this document assumes all responsibility and risk for
the use of such data. MOE shall not be liable for any damage or loss of any kind caused as a result (directly or indirectly) of the
use of such data, including but not limited to any damage or loss suffered as a result of reliance on the data published in this
document.