<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Were these not the same bastoods who sang praises of fresh biz grads making from AssMU making > $10k a month just last year?
Business degrees lose their attraction
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Varsity applicants opt for science and arts as they scan the job scene down the road </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Sandra Davie, Senior Writer
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->
The eye-popping six-figure salaries that banks were throwing at freshly minted graduates in recent years made business faculties the first choice for many university applicants.
Never mind if the applicants were clearly more suited for engineering or the sciences, or even medicine or law.
But the recession has provided a reality check this year.
All those stories of final-year students failing to land a job, let alone a high-paying one in a bank, have had a sobering effect. Applicants are now rethinking their choices.
There is a shift away from business to courses such as arts and social sciences, which offer surer job prospects in teaching and the civil service.
Applications to the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU) surged this year to 61,560, up 5 per cent from 58,606 last year.
Of the total, 37,690 applications were from A-level students and 23,870 from polytechnic graduates. Most applied for two, if not all three, universities.
In all, 15,210 places will be given out this year to local students, up from 14,200 last year.
The Education Ministry did not give a breakdown on course preferences this year but said fewer applicants listed business as their first choice.
NUS, NTU and SMU have all seen a dip of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent for business, while more have applied to take up arts and social sciences, economics, teaching, computing and some engineering degrees.
NUS vice-provost (education) Tan Thiam Soon, who oversees admissions, said school leavers had flocked to the business faculty in recent years, attracted by the high salaries paid by banks.
'Even students who would excel as engineers or scientists wanted to do business,' he said.
'But now, with the finance sector cutting back on jobs, they are more realistic. They are going where they think the jobs are going to be in four years' time, when they graduate. Teaching seems to be one of those sectors. The Government has said it will take the opportunity to hire more teachers and the salaries for teachers look pretty good these days.'
The science and the arts and social sciences faculties of NUS have among the biggest intakes for freshmen, with well over 1,000 students a year.
Professor Lalit Goel, who heads admissions at NTU, said the upbeat job prospects for teachers also explain the rise of 50 per cent to 60 per cent in applications for teaching degree courses at the National Institute of Education, which is a part of NTU.
NUS and NTU also report an increase in applicants for some engineering courses this year - in civil, materials, computer and environmental engineering.
NUS' Prof Tan, a civil engineer by training, said the spike is related to the courses' better job prospects: 'Students have realised that there will always be a need for civil engineers in a built-up city like Singapore, because there is constant regeneration.'
Issues such as climate change have also made environmental engineering 'sexy' again.
NTU's Prof Goel said: 'Students see opportunities in exciting new areas such as waste recycling, solar energy, water technology and electric cars.'
University-bound students told The Sunday Times that they are going where they think jobs will be in the coming years.
A-level holder Dennis Lee, 21, said he was initially set on business but applied for arts and social sciences instead after hearing how his business graduate cousin had difficulty landing a job.
'It's quite scary how my cousin went for half a dozen job interviews and has yet to land anything. So I told myself I have to be realistic,' he said.
'The banks are laying off people, but the Government is hiring. With a BA, I can go into the civil service or teaching, which I don't mind because I like dealing with young people.'
The Education Ministry announced last year that it was going to take advantage of the downturn by embarking on a hiring spree, aiming to sign up about 7,500 people this year. It plans to fill 3,500 teaching and teaching support staff positions, and another 4,000 posts at tertiary institutions and kindergartens.
Polytechnic graduate Karen Oei, 21, believes that it is better to take up general degrees rather than go into specific disciplines. She has applied for a place in the science faculty at NUS.
'Now you can expect to have to change jobs several times in a lifetime. General degrees give you wider options. With majors in maths and chemistry, I can join the manufacturing industry, join the banks, insurance companies or become a maths teacher.' [email protected]
Business degrees lose their attraction
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Varsity applicants opt for science and arts as they scan the job scene down the road </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Sandra Davie, Senior Writer
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->
The eye-popping six-figure salaries that banks were throwing at freshly minted graduates in recent years made business faculties the first choice for many university applicants.
Never mind if the applicants were clearly more suited for engineering or the sciences, or even medicine or law.
But the recession has provided a reality check this year.
All those stories of final-year students failing to land a job, let alone a high-paying one in a bank, have had a sobering effect. Applicants are now rethinking their choices.
There is a shift away from business to courses such as arts and social sciences, which offer surer job prospects in teaching and the civil service.
Applications to the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU) surged this year to 61,560, up 5 per cent from 58,606 last year.
Of the total, 37,690 applications were from A-level students and 23,870 from polytechnic graduates. Most applied for two, if not all three, universities.
In all, 15,210 places will be given out this year to local students, up from 14,200 last year.
The Education Ministry did not give a breakdown on course preferences this year but said fewer applicants listed business as their first choice.
NUS, NTU and SMU have all seen a dip of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent for business, while more have applied to take up arts and social sciences, economics, teaching, computing and some engineering degrees.
NUS vice-provost (education) Tan Thiam Soon, who oversees admissions, said school leavers had flocked to the business faculty in recent years, attracted by the high salaries paid by banks.
'Even students who would excel as engineers or scientists wanted to do business,' he said.
'But now, with the finance sector cutting back on jobs, they are more realistic. They are going where they think the jobs are going to be in four years' time, when they graduate. Teaching seems to be one of those sectors. The Government has said it will take the opportunity to hire more teachers and the salaries for teachers look pretty good these days.'
The science and the arts and social sciences faculties of NUS have among the biggest intakes for freshmen, with well over 1,000 students a year.
Professor Lalit Goel, who heads admissions at NTU, said the upbeat job prospects for teachers also explain the rise of 50 per cent to 60 per cent in applications for teaching degree courses at the National Institute of Education, which is a part of NTU.
NUS and NTU also report an increase in applicants for some engineering courses this year - in civil, materials, computer and environmental engineering.
NUS' Prof Tan, a civil engineer by training, said the spike is related to the courses' better job prospects: 'Students have realised that there will always be a need for civil engineers in a built-up city like Singapore, because there is constant regeneration.'
Issues such as climate change have also made environmental engineering 'sexy' again.
NTU's Prof Goel said: 'Students see opportunities in exciting new areas such as waste recycling, solar energy, water technology and electric cars.'
University-bound students told The Sunday Times that they are going where they think jobs will be in the coming years.
A-level holder Dennis Lee, 21, said he was initially set on business but applied for arts and social sciences instead after hearing how his business graduate cousin had difficulty landing a job.
'It's quite scary how my cousin went for half a dozen job interviews and has yet to land anything. So I told myself I have to be realistic,' he said.
'The banks are laying off people, but the Government is hiring. With a BA, I can go into the civil service or teaching, which I don't mind because I like dealing with young people.'
The Education Ministry announced last year that it was going to take advantage of the downturn by embarking on a hiring spree, aiming to sign up about 7,500 people this year. It plans to fill 3,500 teaching and teaching support staff positions, and another 4,000 posts at tertiary institutions and kindergartens.
Polytechnic graduate Karen Oei, 21, believes that it is better to take up general degrees rather than go into specific disciplines. She has applied for a place in the science faculty at NUS.
'Now you can expect to have to change jobs several times in a lifetime. General degrees give you wider options. With majors in maths and chemistry, I can join the manufacturing industry, join the banks, insurance companies or become a maths teacher.' [email protected]
