{"id":3954,"date":"2020-04-01T15:49:33","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T15:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-alumn-nus.pantheonsite.io\/alumnus\/?p=3954"},"modified":"2025-07-15T16:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T08:08:11","slug":"the-paper-chase-was-it-all-worth-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/2020\/04\/01\/the-paper-chase-was-it-all-worth-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Paper Chase: Was It All Worth It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Making the Grade<\/h3>\n\n

There was a time when a university degree guaranteed career and social advancement. But with today\u2019s changing socio-economic realities, there appear to be other paths to success. Is it time to \u2018re-qualify\u2019 the value of qualifications \u2014 especially with rising graduate numbers \u2014 or do age-old beliefs about the power of academic credentials still hold true?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n

OUR PANEL<\/h3>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Ms Cherie Tan\u00a0 \u00a0
(Engineering \u201912)
31, National bowler<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Mr Xeo Lye\u00a0 \u00a0
(Business \u201903)
41, Boardgame producer<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Ms Ayushi Bainwala\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0
(Arts and Social Sciences \u201918)
25, Financial analyst<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Mr Jeffrey Nah\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0
(EMBA \u201915)
65, Venture capitalist<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Mr Dennis Kwa\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0
(Engineering \u201913)
31, Electrical engineer<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

How relevant has a degree proven to your career?<\/h4>\n\n

Cherie Tan:\u00a0<\/strong>What I did in university has no relevance to my career as a national bowler. (Ed: Ms Tan was named World Bowling Athlete of the Year 2019 by the World Bowling Association, the first Singaporean to receive this honour<\/em>) I started bowling when I was about 10 and have always been passionate about it. So, why did I choose to do a degree? Well, this is Singapore! I needed a fall-back plan in case bowling didn\u2019t work out. I chose a degree in Material Science because it has some relevance to the sport I play \u2013 I can make bowling balls (laughs<\/em>)! I was fortunate that NUS has a flexible scheme that allowed me to juggle both sporting and academic commitments \u2013 I got to defer a few semesters and graduated two years later than my peers, and my professors would even give me one-on-one lessons to help me catch up.\u00a0

Xeo Lye:<\/strong>\u00a0I was previously in wealth management, writing books and giving talks on the topic. One of my Malaysian clients wanted to start investment clubs in the universities, and asked us to create a boardgame for them \u2014 that was the beginning of our game design and development studio (Capital Gains Studio<\/em>,\u00a0which specialises in finance-themed games<\/em>). My marketing training at NUS Business School helped [in the business development for my own company], but as undergraduates, we were trained to come up with marketing plans for big companies with big budgets. It is a different challenge when you are a small start-up promoting an unknown brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Ayushi Bainwala:\u00a0<\/strong>People in finance have a saying: \u201cAn investment in knowledge pays the best interest.\u201d My Master of Economics degree from NUS is especially valuable to me since I always knew I wanted to work in finance. While the Bachelor\u2019s degree programme I did [in India] was largely theory-based, my Master\u2019s course on Applied Economics was more hands-on with seminars, presentations and project work. I had the opportunity to be exposed to different areas of specialisation during the course, trying my hand at asset management, research, trade finance\u2026 all through on- and off-campus projects. I could also take courses from other schools, such as Big Data Analytics, and this expanded my field of knowledge. The classes being held in the evenings also meant that I could work a few days per week. Though that meant that college life was a crazy, hectic rollercoaster, I wanted to seize all the learning opportunities I could get during this time of exploration.<\/p>\n\n

Jeffrey Nah:<\/strong>\u00a0When I took my EMBA eight years ago, at the age of 57, the professor asked me why I wanted to do the course. The average age of my coursemates was 40 \u2013 and the youngest was only 30 years old. In fact, most of the professors were younger than me! But I am a banker-turned-entrepreneur, and at that point, I was switching again to become an investor \u2013 and the finance knowledge I had was from 30 years ago. I needed to continue learning to switch to different sides of the industry.<\/p>\n\n

Dennis Kwa:\u00a0<\/strong>I do work in the same field as my area of study, but what I find more valuable than the knowledge gained during the course, are things like independence and lifelong learning skills. When I was on a student exchange in Stuttgart, Germany, I experienced a different education system where \u2014 while one needed to register to download course materials \u2014 the lectures are free to the public. Everyone and anyone is free to listen in, and even sign up for exams! That made me think about my own style of learning. Upon returning to NUS, I started to attend lectures for a course that I didn\u2019t enrol in, and the professor was happy to have me too. Though I eventually burned out because it was just too taxing on my schedule, the experience made me learn not to simply do what is \u201cpopular\u201d, but focus on things that are important to my areas of interest.<\/p>\n\n

What then, to you, is the true \u201cvalue\u201d of your degree?<\/h4>\n\n

Ayushi:<\/strong>\u00a0One\u2019s perception of the value of a degree changes with time. When you get your first job upon graduation, you are super-thankful for the degree, for you see it as what has gotten you employed. But as you progress in your career, you will rely less and less on your qualifications and more on your different skill sets. Thus, your perceived value of the degree might diminish. However, this doesn\u2019t mean that what you learned in university is less important, for the experiences gained during project work, and the life skills that you developed in the course of your study, all make you who you are today.

Cherie:<\/strong>\u00a0For me, the value of my education at NUS lies more in the life skills learned: discipline, time management, and learning how to prioritise my tasks.<\/p>\n\n

Xeo:\u00a0<\/strong>When my company was expanding beyond Singapore, I also had to figure out a lot of things \u2013 from negotiation techniques in different cultures, and licensing and copyright matters to even writing press releases \u2013 that are not taught in the textbooks. That said, the network of people I knew through studying in NUS \u2013 those specialising in logistics, brand management and communications \u2013 proved an invaluable resource. I tapped into their respective expertise to help myself and my company grow.<\/p>\n\n

Jeffrey:\u00a0<\/strong>The EMBA was a joint UCLA-NUS EMBA programme and networking with the UCLA alumni was very profitable for me \u2013 over the years, I have formed numerous business partnerships with members of the alumni. But what is the true value of higher education? It is to develop the soft skills of communicating, assimilating, adapting, aggregating and to be agile. This is especially important in these volatile times, and when the world is becoming smaller \u2013 I have lived and worked in seven different countries and can tell you that industry knowledge and intelligence is not enough. So, I encourage all current students to reframe and retrain their mind: to think about education not just as a means to a job, but an opportunity to develop your competencies and skills to the fullest, so that you will be able to navigate the uncertainties of the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Do you agree that a degree today doesn\u2019t guarantee you a job?<\/h4>\n\n
\n

Think about education not just as a means to a job, but an opportunity to develop your competencies and skills to the fullest, so that you will be able to navigate the uncertainties of the future.<\/p>\n\n

Mr Jeffrey Nah<\/small><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0We all have peers who did not manage to find work. But sometimes it\u2019s also about the person\u2019s expectations. Indeed, one is considered the top 20 per cent of the population if one has a degree, and that could lead to high expectations: some of my younger peers even expect a $5K starting pay!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Xeo:\u00a0<\/strong>Junior college students still pick university courses based on what jobs pay the best at the point of enrolment. Naturally they will graduate with certain expectations.<\/p>\n\n

Ayushi:\u00a0<\/strong>That you are certified in a certain course serves as an indication of your minimum industry knowledge to others \u2013 and a degree is a globally-recognised qualification that can open doors. However, prospective employers will only understand you as a person when they interact with you, and so, how you put yourself out there becomes very important too. Also, a lot of times these days, one needs job experience to even apply for a job. So, you need to be quick with getting your internships before graduating and gain relevant work experience to give you an edge. A lot of my juniors are also confused as to what they should pursue, and I tell them that they should think three to five years ahead. Yet that is challenging because you cannot predict what the market wants at the point of your graduation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Jeffrey:<\/strong>\u00a0The McKinsey Global Institute predicted that 800 million jobs will be lost globally by 2030 (and be replaced by robotic automation) \u2013 the future is a big uncertainty to navigate, and to be\u00a0kiasu<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0kiasi\u00a0<\/em>(conservative because of a fear of risks and failure) is completely contrarian to these times. That degree-holders are not finding jobs \u2013 and this is a global issue \u2013 could be a supply-and-demand problem. But it could also be the result of a disconnect between the academic institutions and the market. Academia has traditionally operated as silos \u2013 with different faculties operating independently, but the real world isn\u2019t like that. That said, I do see universities adapting and changing their approach. So they are shaping graduates to be more multi-disciplined, yet with a specialised skill. The education system has realised its function is not in just the imparting of information \u2014 for things are changing so quickly that information gets redundant and irrelevant quickly. The best thing they can impart to students are tools to help them be future-proof. Everybody needs entrepreneurial skills: you have to seize the opportunities yourself, and use your education to maximise what you want to develop.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

300 MILLION<\/h3>\n\n

The expected number of young people aged 24 to 34 completing a tertiary degree across OECD and G20 countries by 2030,\u00a0up from 137 million in 2013.<\/p>\n\n

Source:\u00a0\u201cBenchmarking Higher Education System Performance\u201d report, OECD<\/em><\/p>\n\n

If degrees do not guarantee\u00a0jobs, do you think higher education still serves its function as a \u201csocial leveller\u201d?\u00a0<\/h4>\n\n
\n

Make use not just of the opportunities your university presents you, but also the resources provided by the school \u2014 from mentorship and guidance, to facilities and even grants to start a business. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Mr Xeo Lye<\/small><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Ayushi:<\/strong>\u00a0I had a diverse mix of classmates in the public university I attended in India: some lived in the city, and others had to travel two to three hours by train just to get to school. Often we think that getting into university and financing it is a challenge for those from low-income backgrounds, but our university provided equal opportunity for all: my monthly tuition fee was all of two dollars! This access to education means your success is dependent on your dedication, and how interested you are in changing your life with it \u2013 and I have many coursemates who have landed good jobs, and others have gone on to do PhD programmes in the US.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Dennis:\u00a0<\/strong>I see university as a social leveller still, even in Singapore. At any other level of education, those who are more well-off can give themselves an edge by forking out money for tuition and enrichment classes outside of school. But in university, you have to depend on yourself \u2013 you can at best do your own studying to give yourself a headstart, but everybody starts on the same plane, especially in years Three and Four, when the subjects are completely new to all. It trains you to find your own edge based on your skills, which is important, for while the world is your playground when you graduate, you will also find the world challenging you for your job.<\/p>\n\n

LEARN TO EARN<\/h4>\n\n

\"forum-8\"The median gross monthly salary among fresh graduates in full-time permanent employment was slightly higher than $3,500 in 2018 to about\u00a0$3,600\u00a0in 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Information and Digital Technologies graduates commanded the highest median starting salaries at\u00a0$4,400\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Source:\u00a0Joint Graduate Employment Survey 2019<\/p>\n\n

If you were an 18 year-old today, would you choose to do a degree course?<\/h4>\n\n

Cherie:<\/strong>\u00a0I go for what I want and don\u2019t really listen to what others say, so I might not have \u2014 especially since bowling as a career has a much longer lifespan than other sports, and one can keep at it until 50 or even 60 years of age. I tried out a lot of things while I was younger, such as different sports and music, and found bowling to be my passion: my goal has always been to win at the bowling World Championships. In fact, I was at a crossroads after graduating from Mechanical Engineering and considered pursuing further studies\u00a0at Duke-NUS Medical School. Though I was accepted, I eventually still chose bowling full-time and took up the Sport Excellence Scholarship (spexScholarship) which was introduced in 2013. Though I am not usually swayed by the opinions of others, I should also stress that my parents have always been supportive of my decisions \u2013 that really helped in my pursuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Xeo:\u00a0<\/strong>The more conservative parents would probably be less open to different paths, and would like their children to pursue a university education. Your family\u2019s financial situation greatly influences the risks you take.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Aushi:<\/strong>\u00a0My parents are not so traditional, but they still believe in the opportunities education can present. They see it as a something that empowers you \u2013\u00a0 be it to get a job or create a job. They believe in the concept of learning leading to independence.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Jeffrey:\u00a0<\/strong>My 24 year-old son is doing his degree now, but I let him choose his own path \u2013 I did not insist that he attend university, for while a university education is helpful, it is not critical. And if you are at it, maximise the learning opportunity that it affords you: do internships, go for exchanges, go out and get dirty. Frankly, this mentality should be cultivated even earlier, in secondary schools and junior colleges.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Dennis:\u00a0<\/strong>Some people used to joke that ITE stands for \u201cIt\u2019s The End\u201d, but in my company, I have bosses who went to ITE, and then worked their way towards a diploma, degree and even a PhD. Yes, scholars might be put on a fast-track for promotion in some statutory boards, but after the first three to five years in your job, it is your work, attitude and passion that will carry you forward.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Cherie:\u00a0<\/strong>The young people today are also shifting their ambitions: many want to be YouTubers \u2013 which you don\u2019t need a degree for.<\/p>\n\n

Jeffrey:<\/strong>\u00a0Everything is tied to the bigger social mindset \u2013 what we need to address is whether the Singaporean mindset is evolving fast enough to catch up with the rest of the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

What advice will you give to young graduates today?<\/h4>\n\n

Ayushi:<\/strong>\u00a0Put yourself out there. You have to take the first step to get noticed, or even get help. And don\u2019t be afraid to ask for mentorship or help.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Xeo:<\/strong>\u00a0Make use of the opportunities your university presents you, and also the resources it provides \u2013 from guidance to facilities and even grants to start a business. Many big companies today were created while the founders were undergraduates, and NUS has a lot of resources that support young entrepreneurs.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Jeffrey:\u00a0<\/strong>Cherie identified her passion and purpose, kept at it until she excelled, and then applied it to a career that the world needs, and would pay for. And this is exactly what I always emphasise: passion, purpose, and to persevere until you perform.<\/p>\n\n

Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0Take the analogy of a supermarket: you walk in and choose which lane you want to go \u2013 which is like picking your course. You then pick up what you need for your task, be it ingredients for cooking or\u00a0
tools for a DIY project \u2013 these are like the modules\u00a0you choose. Your passion is the task that defines\u00a0 your shopping list, and if you don\u2019t focus on it, you might get distracted and buy things that are irrelevant. When you leave the supermarket with the goods, it is up to you to use the tools to achieve your goal. You might even realise that you need other things, and return to the supermarket to pick up other items which you didn\u2019t realise you needed earlier on. The point of this analogy is that what you get out of your university education is up to you, as is how you use it to meet your own goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

If you\u2019d like to join our Forum panel, do write to us at alumnihelpdesk@nus.edu.sg<\/a> to express your interest and pick from our list of future discussion topics that you may want to be part of.
\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A ticket to employment. A safety net. A social leveller. Just what is the value of a degree today? Five of our alumni discuss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3954"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6584,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3954\/revisions\/6584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}