Private fresh grads in Singapore earned S$2,900 on average in 2020, up from S$2,650 in 2018

Among the PEIs with 10 or more respondents, Parkway College of Nursing and Allied Health saw its fresh graduates earning the highest median gross monthly salary (S$3,800), followed by James Cook University (S$2,950), and SIM (S$2,923).

Private institute fresh graduates in full-time permanent employment earned a median gross monthly salary of S$2,900 in 2020, up from S$2,650 in 2018.

According to the latest Private Education Institute (PEI) Graduate Employment Survey (GES) 2019/20, conducted by SkillsFuture Singapore, this ranked between the median gross monthly salary of S$3,700 for fresh graduates from the Autonomous Universities (AU), and that of post-National Service polytechnic graduates (S$2,500).

This 2019/20 edition of the survey involved about 39.2% of graduates from full-time bachelor's level external degree programmes (EDPs, between May 2019 and April 2020), of which 2,500 were economically active PEI fresh graduates. As defined in the survey, 'economically active' fresh graduates are those who are working, or not working but actively looking and available for a job.

Among the PEIs with 10 or more respondents involved in the survey, Parkway College of Nursing and Allied Health saw its fresh graduates earning the highest median gross monthly salary (S$3,800), followed by James Cook University (S$2,950), and Singapore Institute of Management (S$2,923).

More than eight in 10 active PEI fresh graduates found employment within six months

In terms of employment - of the 2,500 economically active PEI fresh graduate respondents, 80.7% were employed within six months of their final examinations and close to half (49%) obtained full-time permanent employment.

In comparison, the corresponding figures for AU fresh graduates from the 2020 cohort were higher, at 93.6% and 69.8% respectively, while the figures for post-NS polytechnic graduates were also higher, at 91.9% and 65.5% respectively.

On the unemployment front, about one-fifth (19.3%) of PEI fresh graduates were still unemployed, followed by 8.1% post-NS polytechnic graduates, and 6.4% of AU fresh graduates.

Full list of the 30 PEIs that participated in the survey:

1. Air Transport Training College
2. Amity Global Institute
3. Asian International College
4. Auston Institute Of Management
5. BAC College (Singapore) [Formerly ITC School of Laws)
6. Beacon International College
7. Curtin Education Centre
8. Dimensions International College
9. East Asia Institute Of Management
10. ERC Institute
11. ESSEC
12. Informatics Academy
13. James Cook University
14. Kaplan Higher Education Academy
15. London School Of Business & Finance
16. Management Development Institute Of Singapore
17. Nanyang Institute Of Management
18. Parkway College Of Nursing And Allied Health
19. PSB Academy
20. Raffles College Of Higher Education
21. S P Jain School Of Global Management
22. SAA Global Education Centre
23. SDH Institute
24. SHRM College
25. Singapore College Of Traditional Chinese Medicine
26. Singapore Institute Of Management
27. Singapore Raffles Music College
28. SSTC Institute
29. TEG International College
30. TMC  Academy

Lead image and tables / PEI GES 201/9/20, SkillsFuture Singapore's website