"The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do something stupid." - Art Spander

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A local media item on the futility of education:


Survey shows UniSIM grads enjoy higher pay between 2002 and 2007

"SINGAPORE : A UniSIM survey has found that half of its students have higher pay after graduation.

The survey was conducted over a five-year period between 2002 and 2007.

Of the 1,000 surveyed, about a fifth moved to a different job within two years after graduation.

Among those who had pay increases, the average pay hike was 15 per cent. But one in five got more than a 30 per cent increment.

Those who found new jobs were paid 21 per cent more. This is more than the 2007 national average of 5.9 per cent."


I'm wondering if UniSIM has been cursing the day they commissioned this study.

If it isn't immediately apparent, the corollary of half its graduates getting higher pay is that half of them either see no pay increase or even get a pay cut.

Given that the cost of a UniSIM education is $14,478 in the January 2009 Semester for a Basic Degree in a non-lab course with government grant, getting a UniSIM degree is probably not a wise choice. This is not taking into account the opportunity cost (in foregone income) of doing one full-time, and even if you do your degree part-time, your employer might dock your pay for taking a day or two a week off work. Not to mention the time and mental energy spent studying in the 4.5 years you take.

This must be why their press release does not provide a link to the full study or statistics.

Of course, 20% moved to a different job within 2 years, but the language there seems (deliberately?) vague; a different job might not necessarily be a better one. In fact, TMM points out that you may be forced to resign because you're overqualified (I don't know how often this happens in practice). Furthermore, the statistic that 20% changed jobs within 2 years is not very meaningful without a similar statistic as a control group, i.e. the percentage of non-UniSIM graduates who change jobs within 2 years. Naturally statistics on this are hard to find, but here's a quote from the book "Japan in Singapore" by Eyal Ben-Ari and J. R. Clammer (from 2000):

"An impediment to developing worker loyalty towards employers is the high frequency with which Singaporeans change jobs. Their ‘job-hopping’ is so famous that passing reference to it brings a knowing laugh from any audience, whether labourers, students or bankers."

Too broad a generalisation? Glad you objected.

A survey in 1998 found 12.12% full-time employees were actively looking for other jobs, and according to MOM data, average monthly turnover in Singapore was 2% in 2007 (and 0.1-0.2% higher in previous years). Some Excel wizardry reveals that, with the simplifying assumption that old and new staff are equally likely to leave, after 24 months (2 years) only 61.6% of the original staff will still be around.

Be that as it may, bear in mind that all this still leaves a significant 30% of UniSIM graduates who apparently haven't (yet) seen any improvement to their career prospects.

Note also that the survey response rate is only 33%, so there's certainly a self-selection effect here: those who did not get a pay raise or change jobs would be less likely to respond to the survey.

So I hope at least half of UniSIM students are really into it for lifelong learning and sense of achievement, as many of the glowing testimonials relate. If not, they better be risk-loving.