Wanted to shatter the assumptions of many naive Singaporeans about Australia, such as it being slack, relaxed, with recognised degrees, and in general, being life on easy mode, so I decided to write a whole series of hard truths, and this will be my first one.
I've studied in Australia, and worked both in Singapore and Australia. From my graduating batch many years ago, I was the only one to remain in Australia, and even then, my reasons were naive - to be with a girl (my now wife)
I was from one of the so-called famous Australian Group of 8 universities for context.
Out of my entire batch, I'd say:
30% are self-employed, generally selling fashion items, photography, etc. Most of them did "soft" degrees such as psychology.
50% are in low-level, back office/admin roles, including loan officer, bank teller, selling insurance, back office in retail banks, low-level accounting roles, admin.
15% in government, including teachers
5% are actually what Singaporeans might consider successful. The most outstanding one is a mediocre student whose father is a director in a prominent bank. Another was the top student in his batch. The rest were doctors, who would do well regardless.
One stayed behind.
The results speak for themselves. Even from the very onset, my mom was extremely reluctant to send me to Australia. Having worked as a recruiter, one of the common criteria they had was "no Australian graduates" Naturally, she was very worried and reluctant to send me over.
The fact of the matter is, most of us who studied here did not do well enough to either enter a local Singaporean university, or the course of our choice, and that has been the prevailing impression ever since. Australian degrees are seen as markedly inferior, regardless if it is from the prestigious Melbourne University (Higher ranked than NTU!) or not. We are regarded as richer SIM students, spoiled enough that our parents can waste money to send their sub-standard children overseas to try to escape their fate.
Like it or not, Singapore is a place which accepts no mistakes. A single big one, and its the end of you. That's life, and its harsh, but Singapore makes it harsher.
To the credit of the government of Singapore, IF you come from a "recognised" university like mine, they do consider you a full graduate, and IF you can find a government role, you will be treated fairly, and given a second chance to redeem yourself. However, it is very clear that the private sector has firmly held on to its views about Australian universities.
There are little stories amongst the ex-Singaporeans now and then to remind us of our position. One that stands out is the infamous OSU one where they asked attendees to ask their colleagues to migrate to Singapore. As for the attendees themselves, there was no mention of inviting them "home". Its absence said more than any words could.
In fact, almost all of us worked extremely hard to redeem ourselves. Not one was slack, and many felt the pain of our parents, the amount of money they spent to send us here, and worked very hard. We studied extremely hard, but we were happy, because deep inside, we knew, this was our redemption. Little did we know, this was a false redemption.
A girl made my average fall from 85% to nearly 60%. However, when I see how my university mates are treated back in Singapore, a cold chill goes down my spine - If not for her, I would be like them.
Well, the hard truth is that a similar demographic appears for local university grads from the Sg top universities with a smaller % becoming entrepreneurs.
ReplyDeleteGone are the "days" where uni grads parachute into top management posts to lord over the lesser educated. Some would argue that those "days" never existed. W/o the recognised degree, the 70% would probably be unemployed or in much lower paying jobs.